


Legacy

by whiteleopard1124



Category: Naruto, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Izuku can use Chakra, Kinda, Manga Spoilers, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Minor Naruto Crossover, Naruto Cameos, Vigilante Midoriya Izuku
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 106,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27634456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteleopard1124/pseuds/whiteleopard1124
Summary: While on a trip with his mom and Bakugou's family, Izuku gets separated while on a scavenger hunt. He survived long enough to make his way to a ghost town of a village with scary faces carved into a mountain, houses with tons of weapons and a weird tree with a weird fruit that summoned giant symbols in the air after he ate it.He finally had a Quirk. Kinda....Was chakra a quirk? No?
Relationships: Midoriya Izuku/Undisclosed, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 242
Kudos: 266





	1. "I-I don't want to get eaten by a boar!"

**Instead of updating my other stories, I decided to write this. I can't say that I'm upset though. This is a minor crossover with Naruto and it's an AU for pretty obvious reasons lol. I have not gone further than the anime. So, if anything in here doesn't match the manga I'm sorry I guess lol.**

**In any case, I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

"Thank you for the save, young hero!" said a monster of a man with striking blonde hair, "We couldn't have won without you!"

Izuku was starstruck as he looked up at his childhood hero and inspiration. Words failing to escape from his mouth as he stared at the heroic and legendary hero before him. His role model was finally acknowledging him.

"You can't be shy now!" All Might said as he gave Izuku a thumbs up, "With all you did today, I'm sure you'll be the Number 1 Hero in no time! Now tell the world your name!"

The words sent a warm, fuzzy feeling through Izuku. The sheer passion in All Might's voice spurring him on to announce his arrival as a Pro Hero. He took a deep breath before doing his best to match his idol's volume and energy.

"My name is~"

* * *

"Izuku Midoriya! Get out of bed!" His mother's voice hollered rousing him from his sleep, "I've got a surprise for you!"

Izuku let out a disappointed groan. He had been so close. It wasn't the first time Izuku had had that dream and he knew it wouldn't be the last. He wished more than anything to share the stage with All Might and he would not rest until he got there.

"Izuku!"

There was no avoiding it now.

He fought his way out from underneath his All Might Bronze Age blanket. A glance at his All Might Special Edition alarm clock told him that it was 7 AM on a Saturday. He slipped on his Premium V2 All Might nightgown woven from the same breathable fabric as All Might's gear. The gown covered up his All Might—

You get the idea.

Izuku absolutely loved All Might. The current number one hero in all of Japan and the world. Izuku still had the video of All Might's debut branded into his mind.

No one knew who he was or where he came from. A building had collapsed and he had just appeared from thin air with amazing strength and speed and swagger. Hundreds of men, women and children were saved in minutes.

At the very next Hero ranking announcement, All Might topped the charts and it had stayed that way ever since. No one on this planet embodied being a hero like All Might did.

"Izuku!"

"I'm coming!" Izuku said having momentarily forgotten why he was up so early in the first place.

He could hear his mom speaking to someone on the phone which wasn't all that uncommon really. Most of the time, she spoke to family or Aunt Mitsuki whenever they got the chance. She was facing away from him as she spoke to the other person on the phone.

What was different about the scene, though, were the documents laid out before her on the table. His mom had the phone jammed between her shoulder and her ear. It was only then that he noticed the ever so slightly hostile tone she was using.

"You promised you'd make this trip with him, Hisashi! Why do you even bother making promises if you'll just break then anyways?" his mother said and a niggle of sadness and discomfort bloomed in his chest.

His mom was speaking to his father.

Izuku barely remembered his father. He had left a little before Izuku had failed the toe check and the weekly visits turned into monthly before soon all there was the occasional phone call and birthday gift.

He didn't hate his father per se. It was hard to think of anyone that Izuku well and truly hated. The truth was, for the vast majority of his life, it had always been Izuku and his mom. It was pretty difficult to hate someone whose face you could barely remember.

At the very least, Izuku had a dim view when it came to his father because of how hard it had hit his mom. He remembered how much his mother used to love cycling and hiking and all sorts of outdoors activities. Being a single parent, though, she had less free time on her hands and her hobbies began to fell to the wayside as she cared for Izuku.

One of his wishes was to repay his mother for all she had done for him, but that would be difficult to do as he was. Against his will, he frowned as a pen flew across the room into his mother's hand as she began to write stuff down on a paper.

Usually, she never used her Quirk in front of him but she was so distracted by his dad's call that she probably didn't even realise he was there. It served as a harsh reminder of why his father had left and also the day his mother (and on some level Izuku himself) had given up on the dream of him getting a Quirk.

He would soon be 15 and his dreams of going to the best Hero Academy in the world would crumble to dust. UA did allow those without Quirks to take the entrance examination, but as many had said it was impossible to get into the Hero Course without a Quirk.

There were other courses like Business, Support and General Studies, but he had only ever had his eye on the Hero Course. That hadn't changed when he found out he was Quirkless. It hadn't changed when his mother had told him to give up on his dreams.

It definitely hadn't changed despite all the goading and ridicule he had suffered from Kacchan and his cronies.

His mother roused his from his dark thoughts as she spoke into the phone, "Yes, all our travel documents are in check. You would know that if—never mind. I'll take care of it and I know who to give the extra tickets to. Goodbye."

His mother put her phone down before turning towards him and flinching back in surprise, "Izuku! I didn't hear you come in. Let me get you something to eat."

His mother floated away as she went to the kitchen, "Anything specific you want?"

"I'm fine with anything," Izuku said softly as he moved towards the table.

He was finally able to get a good look at the documents. Passports, identification cards, plane tickets and—

"A pamphlet?" Izuku picked it up and his brow scrunched up in confusion as he read the title, "The Samsara resort?"

Izuku had never heard of the place before. It seemed pretty amazing he had to admit. Five-star rooms, acclaimed restaurants and a myriad of activities to boot. It was on its own island which had accommodation for all staff.

"I see you found Hisashi's gift for you," his mom said as she busied herself in the kitchen, "It was supposed to be you and a few others, but something came up."

No surprise there.

"It's all paid for and I have been thinking we needed to go out on a holiday, it has a lot of activities like surfing and hiking and—" His mother continued to speak for far longer than was necessary as she played up the allure of the resort.

Izuku wasn't necessarily the biggest fan of the outdoors, but he knew his mother would relish the trip. It had been so long since she had had the time to just relax and do what she wanted.

Plus, it could be fun. A week on an island resort wasn't the worst way to spend your time. Maybe they had an arcade or quiz bowl or something that he could do while his mom hiked or swam.

"We should go," Izuku said cutting his mom's verbal onslaught off, "It looks nice and we could use a break."

Aldera was out for a few weeks and although he had planned to complete his Hero journals, some time away on an island could ease his mind. Especially with the UA exams looming in the distance.

It was more than a year away, but it was still the closest it had ever been and Izuku was _freaking out_. He hadn't checked for any alternatives to UA and he barely even had a plan for the exam itself. Maybe if he was surrounded by sands and the sea he could get his mind off of everything.

Maybe.

"Really?" His mother sounded surprised that Izuku accepted so easily, "You don't mind that this is from your father."

Izuku winced a bit at that. He had never used the few gifts his father had given over the years so he couldn't blame his mother for being surprised, but this was different. It would make his mom and happy and he couldn't take that away from her.

"It's okay, mom," Izuku said smiling at her, "It looks really fun."

His mom squealed like a little girl before pulling her phone towards her in excitement. Unlike other times, seeing his mom use her Quirk didn't get to him at all.

"Mitsu will be so happy!" His mom said as she typed a number into her phone, "They've been looking for a holiday and this is perfect!"

Izuku's wide smile froze and shrank as her words sank into his head. He looked back to the table and sure enough on his mom's notepad laid the proof.

"Trip for five."

The slight excitement and giddiness that had been building inside him faded away immediately. Izuku and his mom made two. That left three. Aunt Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru made it four which could only mean that the last would go to—

"Hello, Katsuki!" his mon chirped into the phone, "Could you give your mom her phone? I've got some exciting news!"

Oh, no.

* * *

"Aren't you excited Izuku?!" his mother said while they were walking through the airport as a porter pushed their bags behind them, "There's so much to do. Mitsuki and I agreed to go hiking, but there are multiple ones! One to a waterfall, one to a cave and even one through the jungle! Then after that, we can go abseiling then actual sailing then rock climbing then paragliding—"

Despite his mother's enthusiasm, Izuku was finding it pretty difficult to get into the holiday mood. The idea of having to share a room with Kacchan, of all people, for a week was pretty daunting.

They had been a lot closer as kids, but as soon Kacchan activated his quirk it all changed. Still, though, Izuku kept going back for more. As mean as he was, Kacchan inspired Izuku. There was nothing on this Earth that intimidated Kacchan.

Whether it was a bunch of bullies twice their age or their final exams, Kacchan always dealing with stuff with ease and he always excelled. His grades were usually ahead of Izuku's and the few times he got beat would result in him blowing Izuku out of the water next time around.

Sometimes, literally.

Despite it all, Izuku kept coming back because if he needed an example of what it needed to be the #1 hero then Kacchan was a perfect motivator. For all his arrogance, he really did work hard for each and every bit of progress he made.

"Inko, Izuku!" Izuku turned to see Aunt Mitsuki waving her hands rapidly in the air, "We saved you a few seats!"

With that said Mitsuki pushed a large suitcase off the seats they were near. The suitcase flipped in the air before landing on the foot of an aloof Kacchan. He let out a loud groan before turning to his mother angrily.

"What the hell was that you old hag?" Kacchan growled as he stalked up to his mother, "Are you going blind or something?! Watch where you put those things!"

"It's not too late to send you back home, you little brat!" Aunt Mitsuki matched her son's volume which only drew stares and glares from everyone else in the airport.

"Excuse me," said a man who walked up to the quarrelling duo, "Could you not be more dignified? You—"

"Shut it, you nobody!" Kacchan and Aunt Mitsuki said in unnerving synchronicity.

It was enough to repel the man and others from intervening in the very public and very heated argument. Thankfully, the brewing argument was snuffed out when Izuku's mom came between the two.

"I think we should all just relax," her words seem to have the right effect as Kacchan and Aunt Mitsuki caved to his mom's earnest tone, "It just wouldn't do if we arrived at the resort angry."

"Katsuki...Why are the suitcases on the floor?"

"Why don't you ask the blonde hag!"

"I _dare_ you to say that again!"

Izuku turned to see Uncle Masaru holding five cans in his hands whilst also struggling with a few heavy-looking bags, "Oh, hi Izuku! Are you excited about the trip?"

"O-Of course!" Izuku said as he helped relieve some of Kacchan's father load, "H-here let me get those for you, Uncle Masaru."

Izuku took the cans and then the bags from a relieved Masaru who looked just a little sweaty. That wasn't good. If Mitsuki touched him now then things would get even more explosive than her argument with Kacchan.

"You're a good kid, Izuku," Masaru said clearly drained of energy before collapsing into a chair, "I'll just...lie over here..."

Izuku took that chance to give the cans to his mom and Mitsuki who had calmed down a lot now that she wasn't speaking to Kacchan. His mother took the offered can, but Mitsuki pulled him into a tight hug that made his face burn with embarrassment.

To make things worse, Izuku had a prime view of Kacchan's darkening demeanour as Izuku was squished up against Mitsuki.

"Hi, Izuku!" Mitsuki said still hugging him tightly, "You've grown so much! Have you been exercising?"

Somehow, his face burned hotter and Kacchan's face darkened even more.

Izuku stuttered out a greeting before squirming his way free out of the death trap, "Uh, no I haven't really done too much exercise. Just a growth spurt I guess."

Mitsuki seemed to take mercy on him as she took a can from his hands, "I'm glad to see you're doing well, Izuku. You really should visit us more. It's been far too long!"

Izuku looked over Mitsuki's shoulder to see Kacchan scowl at him. He nodded and agreed to drop by eventually but it was definitely a lie. Visiting Kacchan's house was a great way to get the other boy to make his school life even more of a living hell.

After giving a can to his mother, Izuku was left with a cherry(which he wanted) and a cola flavour. This particular brand of soda made absolutely dreadful cola which wasn't something he expected Kacchan to know.

Kacchan was almost religious with how healthy he was. There was no chance he would know that Izuku was going to give him the equivalent of dirt and toilet water with a dash of sugar.

"Which one are you having, Deku?" Kacchan sneered at Izuku and somewhere behind him, Izuku heard their parents begin to plan out their week.

"Hey, Kacchan! Uh, I was going to take the cherry—"

No sooner had the word left his mouth had Kacchan swiped the cherry soda out of his hand. He opened it and downed it in one go before letting out a disturbingly loud belch.

"That's too bad," Kacchan whirled around and plopped himself down on his seat.

Izuku looked at the can of 'cola' in his hand with a grimace.

Maybe if he hid it underneath his seat no one would notice?

* * *

Five days in and Izuku had to admit that the Samsara resort was awesome. It was almost perfect really. The pamphlet had seriously underplayed just how cool the place was.

There was a nearby hero agency that specialised in marine rescue and apparently, a famous hero would be there sometime this week. Izuku hoped against hope that it was All Might, but if he was being honest he would go crazy for just about anyone.

Izuku had actually done a lot of stuff. He had joined his mother on most of the outdoor activities while still setting time aside for the Hero Trivia Quiz. It was an ongoing thing throughout the week and Izuku had reached the finals.

The winner apparently got a rare item of their choice. Izuku had spent time each day looking at what was on offer and he was giddy at the thought of winning. The boots All Might had worn in the battle of New Hampshire were the prized jewel.

They were even signed by All Might and Sir Nighteye!

Quiz bowl aside, Izuku had also participated in a few of the activities that were on offer. Just before going to the hero agency, he lost a mini-golf tournament to someone with a pretty amazing mutant quirk that gave him perfect aim.

Well, technically Izuku had placed 11th out of 17th but that was still pretty good. It didn't matter _at all_ that he had only beaten senior citizens and a toddler.

Anyways, He had just returned from the agency and was laying on his bed scribbling some stuff in his notebook. The leader of the agency had a quirk that allowed him to breathe through his skin and communicate with animals. He also had a pretty cool name.

All good things came to an end, however, and the tranquillity in the room was shattered when Kacchan walked in wearing only swimming trunks and a towel around his neck.

"You're making notes here?" Kacchan's incredulity was palpable, "Oh, come on, Deku. You do know all that studying won't help a Quirkless loser as you get into a decent hero academy? Hell, I'm not sure even a normal high school would want you."

Izuku couldn't meet Kacchan's harsh gaze and his even harsher gaze. If he reacted then Kacchan would just prick and prod at the wound even more so he just had to stay quiet and hope—

"What are you writing about anyway?" Kacchan's superb reflexes let him swipe the notebook from Izuku before he had a chance to react, "The Deep? Why would you care about a Rescue scrub like him? Didn't you hear about what he did to that dolphin?"

Izuku had _not_ heard about the dolphin and judging from Kacchan's smirk he wasn't sure he wanted to.

"I thought you were g-gonna go rock climbing?" Izuku said trying to change the topic and amazingly it seemed to work.

"I got kicked out by some loser!" Kacchan growled as sparks danced in his free hand, "Apparently, I'm not allowed to use my Quirk to help me. Such bullshit."

"Well that does go against Quirk usage laws so it would be remiss of them to not remind you of anything especially since you're not even at a Hero Academy nor do you have a special permit or civilian licence so you could potentially get the resort sued and cause a ton of collateral damage especially since the Hero Agency specialises in sea rescue and your Quirk could have caused a rock slide."

"Deku!"

Kacchan's shout coupled with a loud bang from his palm wrench Izuku from his nervous mutterings.

"You gotta stop doing that!" Kacchan said before throwing Izuku's notepad back at him, "Get dressed. I signed us up for a scavenger hunt. The prize is an early copy of a training manual written by Endeavor."

Wait? What?

Kacchan wanted to work with him?

"Y-you want to work with me?" Izuku smiled hesitantly, but the smile died on his lips after Kacchan's reply.

"Not really no," Kacchan said idly as he began to get dressed, "I got told I needed a partner and no one wanted to work with me after the rock climbing thing. Fucking gossipy extras."

Ah, that made more sense.

It still could be fun.

"Bring your bag," Kacchan said as he made his way out the room, "You're going to carry everything. That's all someone like you is good for. A porter for the real heroes."

Maybe. Hopefully?

* * *

The scavenger hunt was going _terribly_.

They were hot, thirsty, hungry, frustrated and just about everything else in the book. The food Izuku had thoughtfully brought along had mostly been eaten by Kacchan leaving a grumbling mess in Izuku's stomach.

They hadn't even found one thing yet. The list had twenty-five items.

To reiterate, this was terrible.

On the other hand, Izuku found out that Kacchan was atrocious at anything to do with map-reading, riddles and directions. It wouldn't be so bad if those weren't essential for scavenger hunts. It was cathartic to see that even Kacchan wasn't perfect ag everything.

It wouldn't be too bad if Kacchan didn't ignore any and all input that Izuku tried to give him. They were running out of time as it stood and Kacchan had taken them way off the designated path to find a 'shortcut'.

Kacchan's shortcut led past many red and yellow signs with symbols on them. The signs had stuff like the words 'fragile' and 'danger', images of rocks falling from a cliff and a skull and crossbones. All of which painted a grisly picture of what could happen to them if they didn't turn back.

They finally reached a rocky outcrop which overlooked a rushing river. More importantly, Izuku could swear the ground was groaning beneath their feet.

"Damnit!" Kacchan screamed causing a vision of avalanche to fly through Izuku's mind, "We've found nothing! This is all your fault, Deku! I knew I should have gone with that three-year-old brat instead! She looked like she at least had a useful quirk."

"This is your fault, Kacchan," Izuku wasn't sure where the bout of confidence came from but he was far too tired to care, "You are terrible at directions and you've been ignoring my advice. We could've been back at the resort if you weren't so stubborn."

Kacchan was stunned into silence and Izuku took the chance to reach for the map in the other boy's hands. Unfortunately, Kacchan had other ideas.

"Stubborn?" Kacchan said disbelievingly, "Did you finally grow a spine, Deku? It's about damn time it only took fourteen years! "

The insult washed off Izuku like water, "Give me the map, Kacchan."

"Not a chance, Deku," Bakugou said with a twisted grin on his face, "If you want it so badly then come get it."

Izuku's burst of confidence faded away as he stared down the biggest stressor in his life. Things were never easy with Bakugou and while he was usually able to move past Bakugou's provocations, today wasn't one of those days.

Still, though, Izuku was paralysed by his own fear. Bakugou would send him flying before Izuku could get a fingernail on the map. Kacchan seemed to realise that no attack was coming as he laughed.

"That's what I thought," Kacchan crumpled the map up and stomped on it causing the rock beneath them to let out a groan. Not that Kacchan seemed to notice.

"K-Kacchan..." Izuku tried to warn, but the other boy seemed to misread his discomfort.

"Oh, did someone want the map?" Kacchan's voice took on a mocking lilt, "If you're so good at directions then find your way back to the resort on your own. I'm outta here!"

And to punctuate his point, Kacchan let out a double-barrelled blast at the map which was the last thing Izuku wanted to see. The shaky outcrop they were on before groaned before it began a slow collapse— the rocks falling to the surging river below. Izuku fell facedown as he tried to grab onto something— anything!

"What the—" Kacchan had managed to save himself by propelling himself backwards with two blasts from his hands.

It was only once he was safe that he realised something was amiss.

"Deku! Where the hell are you?"

Izuku slipped down the rough face of the inclined platform before he stopped at the very bottom. His arms were burning and screaming from the effort of holding himself up. A welcome branch saving the day for him.

At least for now.

He chanced a look down at the narrow river and he frowned as he saw the speed of the current. He would almost certainly get carried away and he could only hope that it wasn't shallow or his day could go from bad to worse.

Things did go from bad to worse when the number of rocks surging past him began to increase. The pieces were small, but it was only a matter of time before bigger ones began to follow.

"Deku!" Kacchan shouted looking far more scared than he'd ever seen him, "I'll get you! Just hang on!"

Kacchan put his hand behind him obviously preparing to use his propulsion method again. Izuku almost listened to his former friend, but that simply wasn't meant to be.

A large rock broke off the face and was now heading right for him. Izuku, in his panic, could only kick off the rockface in hopes of avoiding his face getting smashed in.

It wasn't gonna work thanks to gravity.

The rock was falling faster than Izuku was and it would definitely catch him quick. It was rolling down the hill and gaining speed until a scream and flash of light washed over Izuku.

Kacchan.

Sure enough, Kacchan had fired a blast at the boulder but it came at the cost of accelerating the collapse. The last thing Izuku saw before falling into the _freezing_ river was a torrent of rocks chasing after him.

Thankfully, Izuku did not have to worry about the rocks thanks to the river's current. He was swept away before his feet could even graze the bottom of the river.

That was were Izuku's good luck ended, unfortunately. He got slammed left and right and up and down. It was like he was wrestling with Gang Orca, but somehow worse in every way.

Izuku vaguely remembered there being tips for this situation but in truth, he could not remember any. He fought and strained against the currents as he was dragged and spat out by rapids and eddies.

Izuku lost track of any sense of time and space, but it was when he felt the wind on his skin that he realised that he had stopped. His body was still submerged in the water, but somehow he had—

Izuku reached behind him and despite the pain, his body was in he was able to laugh wryly. His bag had gotten caught on some overhanging roots and he was stuck pretty good.

The current was a touch more gentle down here. Nothing too drastic, but just enough for Izuku to swing and pivot onto dry land. He ripped his bag free from the roots and remarkably it was still in great shape.

This was probably the best advertisement for the Plus Ultra All Might backpack anyone could ask for.

Izuku's elation at escaping the river didn't last as he saw that the bag was empty. That meant both his and Kacchan's phones were gone. Furthermore, Izuku couldn't risk tracking back.

His body had taken far more hits than he had expected if the treacherous path behind him was to be believed. The river wound and shrank and dipped many times. It was surrounded by sheer cliffs on either side.

Izuku had been lucky that Mother Nature was feeling ever so slightly guilty as she allowed a tree to nab him by his bag. Izuku could only hope to follow the river downstream and maybe there was something or someone he could find.

Maybe.

* * *

Izuku had found nothing.

About an hour ago, he had been forced to branch off from the river as the way before him became impassable. He had weighed up staying by the riverside but he had fled for the forest when a boar had taken residence near the river.

The hulking beast scared Izuku to no end. He had read an article of what happened to someone foolish enough to get on the wrong side of a boar. There had been no pictures but the journalist had painted a grisly picture.

So, he'd made the 'smart' decision of heading into the forest.

Where even more boars laid in wait ready to tear him limb from limb.

At least he prolonged his survival, right?

The trees in the forest jutted high into the sky and the canopy blotted out the majority of the sun. From what he could see through the branches and leaves, it was around dusk. It would get dark soon and things would only get worse from there.

Izuku heard a stick snap behind him and on pure instinct, he just ran. He wasn't sure which way he had turned, but he just ran and ran and ran while screaming his lungs out. All the while he was certain something was following him.

He leapt over a fallen tree before tripping over something jutting out of the ground. He looked back to see a large root. Izuku shrugged it off though as he heard his assailant gain ground on him.

Izuku looked around for where to go and he almost cried in relief as he saw a cave. He had no time to tell if it was empty or not, but surely that was better than going deeper into the forest.

He fled into the cave. His bag failed wildly from its position on his bag. Thankfully, the cave was empty and pretty warm and dry too. It even had an opening that illuminated the cave pretty well. It did smell absolutely terrible, though.

Unfortunately, whatever it was followed him into the cave as well.

"I-I don't want to get eaten by a boar! This is so bad!"

Izuku scrambled to the back of the cave as he saw the shadow of his hunter appear. He took one more step back and there was a loud boom as his foot came into contact with something that was decidedly _not_ earth.

The acoustics in the cave had the knock-on effect of making his predator pause which was revealed to be a—

"A deer?" Izuku said with a smile, "That's what I was afraid of? It's kinda cute-AH!"

His words morphed into a scream as a _massive_ wolf attacked the deer. Blood and guts and fur flew through the air and Izuku fell on his butt as he scrambled for a way out.

Left and right? No.

Back? No.

Up?

Front? Never.

Izuku looked down in panic before his eyes widened. As the rabbit was getting mauled, Izuku began to frantically wipe the rocks and dirt on the floor away. He worked quicker than he ever had before and soon the detritus was gone to reveal—

"A trapdoor."

Izuku had no time to ponder where it led to. He chanced a looked up and he felt a wave of nausea as he saw that a pack of wolves were feasting on the dead deer.

That explained the smell. This was a wolf's den.

He wrenched on the brass ring with all his might and after a second of panic, the door groaned open. It was no time to soon as some of the wolves began to stalk towards him.

He opened it fully and thankfully it served as a temporary shield by opening away from Izuku and towards the wolves. Izuku heard the shuffling of a pouncing wolf right before he scrambled into the hole.

The trapdoor slammed shut, but even then Izuku could hear the wolves scratching and sniffing at the trapdoor. His body ached from the fall he took, but thankfully it wasn't anything bad.

Exhausted from the days' events, Izuku fell asleep right there on the floor with his bag on and his arms serving as a makeshift pillow.

* * *

Some indeterminate time later, Izuku woke up and his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. To his surprise, the room below the cave was bigger than he expected.

Actually, it was less of a room and more of a tunnel.

For some inexplicable reason, Izuku felt compelled to go down the tunnel. He could hear the wolves moving around in the cave so that was obviously a no-go. There was no light down here and the silence was crushing as it pressed down on Izuku from all directions.

Eventually, his mind settled into a daze of sorts as he continued to move forward. It was obvious that the tunnel was manmade. Izuku could feel intricate carvings on the walls and the floor was perfectly level.

It could have been a trick of the mind, but a weak breeze washed over Izuku. It was that small and barely noticeable breeze that spurred him on during his march through the night.

Even as his limbs began to quake and his stomach began to growl, he walked and walked and walked. Right until he walked right into something. His eyes adjusted quickly and he realised it was a door.

The doorknob turned after some effort and Izuku pushed the door open. Weirdly, it led to a ladder illuminated by what looked like the sun which was way too bright for someone coming out a dark tunnel.

Izuku climbed up the ladder with haste before throwing himself onto the ground. The sun was stabbing at his eyes. Idly, he realised he had slept through the night and until the morning.

He adjusted to the daylight and he blinked in confusion as he took in what surrounded him.

Dilapidated houses stretched as far as the eye could see. The houses were all made of a mix of wood, stone and metal but one thing they all had in common was that they were all centuries beyond repair.

"Hello?" Izuku's voice echoed loudly through the village, "Anyone here?"

There was no one.

Izuku left the destroyed building he had walked out and began to walk around the destroyed village. In the distance, there was a mountain with 5 strange protrusions on it.

A closer look took his breath away as he realised that what he had thought were unusual rock formations were actually _faces_. Four men and one woman. It reminded him of Mount Rushmore. Were these five the leader of this village or civilisation?

For some reason, they were all surly and moody. It reminded Izuku of Endeavor's face at every Billboard ceremony. Maybe a grumpy face was easier to carve?

Izuku spent a while committing the amazing sight to memory. As far as he knew, there were no ruins on the resort island. The research Izuku had done had yielded nothing of the sort. The most he knew was that the resort made up a tiny sliver of the actual island.

For such an advanced society to go under the radar was, almost, _no_ , it was impossible. Either way, Izuku would have his name stamped all over a major archaeological discovery.

You know, if he didn't die here.

Izuku put that out of his mind as he began to explore. He must have been in a residential district of sorts judging by the ceramic dishes that survived this long.

Once again, Izuku was thankful for his bag as he began to pilfer only the best items he could find. It was nothing major. A few plates and bowls. There was one fancy vase that his mom would probably love.

It was only later that he moved to what looked like a different section of the village. The most notable thing about this section was the weapons. Shuriken, kunai and even a few swords.

Unfortunately, Izuku could only sneak some shuriken and kunai away. Nothing big, just around 80 in total. They were surprisingly light. You needed a license to have a sword let alone use one.

All in all, Izuku spent the vast majority of his time exploring the village.

There wasn't really that much cool stuff left though and some places were just plain inaccessible. The only cool things he had been able to find was a weird metal plate attached to some cloth.

He could tell it was meant to attach to his head kinda like a bandanna. He had found tons of them but only one in mint condition. It had been in what Izuku could only guess to be a classroom of sorts which was amazing.

Universities were nothing new, but to find out that this place had it's own had him giddy with excitement. Especially with relatively modern design. It was similar to the layout of large schools long ago.

This discovery could boost his profile if, no, when he became a hero.

Finally, Izuku came to the largest building of them all. It was right by the university and was circular in appearance. The vast majority of hallways and corridors were impassable, however, so Izuku decided to explore the ground floor only.

This led to him finding a courtyard that in contrast to the rest of the village was in mint condition. There was a tree right in the centre of the courtyard.

It had thick roots that spread to the edge of the courtyard. The trunk of the tree looked as if a God had twisted it round and round. Most notably to Izuku's starving mind, there was a delicious-looking fruit hanging from one of its branches.

Izuku's stomach ached painfully at the sight and before he knew it he had shrugged his back off and walked up to the tree. He stopped right in front of it, though as a strange sensation came over him.

It felt like the air was charged with something just beyond the normal. The feeling increased tenfold as he grabbed onto the fruit. It was purple and pink and orange with silver concentric lines tracing around it.

He plucked it free almost as if controlled by an external source. Before he could even stop to consider the implications, he had taken a massive bite out of the fruit.

It tasted divine.

Izuku took bigger and bigger bites out the fruit before soon it was all gone.

Izuku scanned the tree for any more of the heavenly fruit, but the second he touched it the tree died. It collapsed into a pile of ashes that was blown away almost immediately by a strong breeze.

"What the—"

Before Izuku could even verbalise his question, giant glowing white symbols appeared in a three-dimensional dome up in the sky. They danced and shimmered and morphed before suddenly freezing.

Izuku could only stare at the symbols in shock and wonder and confusion before the symbols turned into a grey mist and just faded away.

"What kind of a place is this?"

Izuku's question went unanswered as a burning sensation emanated in his stomach. He looked down to see a blinding blue light shining from his stomach. The phenomenon spread all over his body tracing all around his body from his fingers to his toes to everywhere in between.

Izuku felt as though his body was burnt and shocked and diced and crushed and a myriad of other sensations before it all just disappeared. It could have gone on for two seconds or two hours and Izuku would have been none the wiser.

Exhausted, he crawled towards his bag and as his consciousness faded he could _feel_ movement towards him from many miles away.

This was going to be difficult to explain.

* * *

**Author Notes:**

**Moral of the story? Don't eat weird fruit.**

**This idea has been eating away at me for days and I'm ecstatic to have gotten it out. The premise isn't unique but I do have big plans for the plot in general.**

**As you know, we fic writers live off the feedback we get from you guys and I'd love to hear from you guys and answer any questions you may have so don't be afraid to smash that like button, hit the subscribe button and hit the bell so you never miss a video.**


	2. "Yeah, I wouldn't want to fight me neither."

**Thanks for the response to the last chapter and I hope you guys enjoy this one too.**

* * *

_Beep._

_Beep._

_Beep._

Izuku groaned as the beeping brought him back to the land of the living. He opened his eyes to see he was in a private hospital room and there was a drip connected to his arm.

How did he get here?

Izuku tried to rise but he stopped as he saw his mom half-sitting in her chair and half-lying on the bed. There were dried tear tracks on her eyes and her eyes looked black from lack of sleep. He was tempted to let her sleep, but the position looked like torture on the neck.

"Mom," Izuku said pushing her lightly, "Mom, wake up."

His mom woke up almost immediately as she shot up in her chair. Her eyes were dazed before they focused on Izuku. The next thing he knew he was pulled into a tight hug from his mother.

"Oh Izuku, I was so worried!" his mother said and it sounded like tears were coming to her eyes again, "You've been asleep for so long! Are you okay? Do you need anything? How did you survive? How did you fall into the river? Why are there knives and plates in your bag?"

"Uh..."

Thankfully, Izuku was saved from having to answer all those questions when a doctor walked in. The woman's eyes were a striking black and white split right down the middle. It was a little unsettling to look at, but Izuku was rather thankful for the interruption.

After all, how did one explain what happened to him and _not_ get sent to a crazy ward?

"Hello, Mr Midoriya. I am Dr Shirai and I've been your doctor for your stay in Samsara," Dr Shirai said as she held a clipboard, "I've just got a few questions for you. Is that okay?"

"U-Uh," Izuku cleared his throat feeling how dry it was, "Y-Yeah, but, uh, could I please get some water."

"How silly of me, of course," Dr Shirai left and a few seconds later she returned with a jug of water and a glass, "I'd forgotten these in the hallway. Your case is just very interesting."

That was ominous.

Izuku's mom took it upon herself to pour him a glass. He downed it all in one go and still, he felt rather parched. His mother poured him a second one and he drank more slowly from this one.

"Do you feel any pain on your body at all?" Dr Shirai said and he shook his head no.

"When was the last time, excluding now, that you drank water?"

"Before the scavenger hunt."

The questions were all pretty mundane to Izuku and Dr Shirai was kind enough to not ask them all at once like his mother had. She then asked a question that made him hesitate.

"A Pro Hero found you unconscious in a previously undiscovered ruin over thirty miles from a cave they tracked you to," Dr Shirai said and he tensed under her scrutiny.

His mother must have sensed his discomfort as she asked, "Is there a question in there?"

"Yes," Dr Shirai said and she smiled to ease the slight tension, "How does a boy escape a wolf's den and then make it unscathed to a ruin that has never seen the light of the day only to be saved due to a massive radio emission?"

"Izuku?" His mother sounded curious herself, "What happened?"

Perhaps, it was because he couldn't really lie to his mother or because Dr Shirai had a comforting aura around her. Either way, Izuku felt compelled to tell the truth.

"I-I got to the den just before the wolves did while running from a, uh, predator," Izuku didn't think it was necessary to say it was a deer, "The wolves came right after I did, but there was a trapdoor in the cave that I fell into."

"I slept there through the night I think and it turns out that was a tunnel that led to that ruin," Izuku said his eyes glazing over just a bit, "I don't know how long I was down there, but I just felt this urge to keep walking. It was weird."

The doctor and his mother remained silent throughout his explanation which allowed him to convey his thoughts with more ease.

"That place was weird," Izuku was glad to speak about the place with someone, "At first look, it could have been a town in a rural area for all I know, but something big happened there. The place isn't normal. There's a lot of weapons in every house and a giant monument and even a university."

"Are you sure no one has ever been there?" Izuku asked and he received a firm nod from the doctor, "Very sure. According to my husband, his grandfather had the entire island explored and mapped out before building the resort. No one had ever seen the place before. Until you."

"Wait, you're a part of the—"

"Yaoyorozu family!" Izuku cut his mother off in surprise, "You're the 6th richest family in Japan and have over 300 hero agencies, tech suppliers and companies under your umbrella. You guys helped Edgeshot and Best Jeanist get their agencies off the ground!"

Izuku had been curious about the Samsara resort and he had researched it extensively. That was how he found out that the entire island was one of owned by one of Japan's most successful families.

The entire family excelled in whatever field they were involved and it was known that the name could and would open a lot of doors for anyone lucky enough to be born into the family.

"My husband's family would like you," Dr Shirai said smiling a bit wryly, "But yes, you are correct. Truth be told, this debacle has made quite the splash especially with the Pro Hero that rescued you talking about it."

Did he get saved by a Pro? And a pretty famous one by the sound of things. It obviously wasn't All Might because his speciality wasn't tracking and they'd found him in the wolf's den and then again at the ruin. It could have been Ryukyu but she was always swamped if the reports were to be believed. It could not have been Gang Orca because—

"Uh, honey," Izuku blinked as his mother called out to him sounding a bit embarrassed, "You're talking out loud."

"Oh, um, sorry," Izuku said to both of them, "I'm still a bit overwhelmed. I think it was the fruit I ate."

"You ate a fruit?" Dr Shirai sounded surprised by this, "Our scans revealed a shockingly low blood sugar. Consistent with someone who hadn't eaten for days. It's why you've been unconscious for two weeks."

"T-Two weeks?!"

"Yes, two weeks. Perhaps, I should've said that earlier," Dr Shirai said looking a bit embarrassed by her slip-up, "In any case, could you describe the fruit you ate and where you got it from? Any adverse effects would have passed by now, but it would be remiss of me to not make sure."

"It tasted really good. _Really_ good," Izuku said thinking back to the fruit, "It was kinda shaped like an onion. It was a mix of colours. Pink, purple and orange with these grey, no wait, silver lines."

 _Beep_.

 _Beep_.

"I see," Dr Shirai said after a few seconds of silence, "Did the fruit could have adverse effects on you like intense hallucinations or bodily pain?"

Did giant symbols in the air and his skin glowing a bright blue count?

"Well, u-um, n-nothing that I noticed really," Izuku said rubbing the back of his head rapidly, "I-I just passed out after eating it."

Izuku had no idea what possessed him to lie about what had happened. If he was being honest, he wasn't too sure himself if he had hallucinated what had happened. In a world filled with Quirks, the impossible was an ever-changing concept, but even this was too far-fetched.

Besides, he had been born with no Quirk. He still remembered the doctor breaking the news to him and his mother giving up on his dream.

Perhaps it was that more than anything that made him hold his silence.

* * *

Izuku and his mom had returned to Musutafu about a day after he'd woken up. Kacchan's family had returned while he was still under, but he'd seen Uncle Masaru and Aunt Mitsuki the day they had returned.

Apparently, Kacchan had fessed up to everything that led to Izuku getting lost and his parents had not taken it well. They had practically fallen over themselves asking for forgiveness but Izuku knew it wasn't their fault at all.

Kacchan was grounded so the word went and Izuku hadn't heard a peep from him since.

Izuku wasn't cleared to return to school just yet and his mom still had to go to work. This meant he would be alone at home alone most days for the foreseeable future which was good news.

Izuku was positive that the fruit he'd eaten had done _something_. Not just to him but to that ruin in general. Speaking of the ruin, somehow, the press had caught wind of the boy who had found a lost civilisation on a Yaoyorozu island and a few agencies were offering a surprisingly high amount for interviews.

His mother hadn't responded yet and she seemed hesitant to accept them. However, Izuku knew that the money could go a long way to alleviate the pressure she was under. Especially after the whole falling-into-a-river-and-then-being-unconscious-for-two-weeks-thing.

He'd been found by Hawks who was the youngest hero in the top 15 and he was still rising constantly. His approval ratings were up there with the very best. Unfortunately for Izuku, Hawks had returned to his agency before Izuku could wake up and ask for an autograph.

It was still cool, though.

Izuku shook his head as he returned to the problem at hand. Today was his first day alone at home. His mother had left for work about an hour ago and she would only be back in well over ten hours from now.

Plenty of time to figure out what happened.

Izuku vividly remembered the blue energy that had emanated from beneath his skin. It could have been a trick of the mind, but Izuku also just _felt_ different. It was hard to put into words but he felt as if there was _more_ lurking beneath the surface.

He got a blank notebook out and scribbled 'Attempt 1' at the top. He put the pen down before he held his hands out in front of him. He strained and strained, but the blue energy did not appear.

It was only after ten minutes of focus and effort that he admitted that he would not have instant mastery of this...whatever it was. Even Kacchan had trained a lot to control his Quirk. Hell, he was probably the only person at Aldera that seriously trained their Quirk.

Izuku decided to go for a more practical approach and he researched basic training methods for Quirks. The blue energy reminded him of an Emitter Quirk and there were many official websites with helpful tips.

Generally, a Quirk came with some baseline level of understanding much like knowing how to move a muscle. That being said, a lot of practice was needed to gain control of your Quirk so as to not be a danger to yourself and those around you.

"Tip number 1: Try to clear your mind and visualise your Quirk in your mind. It may take a few tries, but you will know when you have accessed it," Izuku read from the webpage, "From there on, it is up to achieve further control. Try to do this in an isolated environment."

Admittedly, it sounded a bit corny to Izuku but the website was approved by many hero agencies so who was he to judge?

Izuku shut his windows and curtains and soon his room was enveloped in shadows. He took it a step further and put on his noise-cancelling headphones. Now, he was as cut off from the world as much as possible.

It was not that simple, though. No matter what he did, visions still played across his mind if he let his mind wander. He constantly had to reign it in and that was surprisingly hard to do.

He wasn't sure how long it took, but eventually, he was able to focus solely on the image of the energy.

He remembered how it was a dazzling blue that both stung and soothed his eyes. He remembered the sound of rushing air that had enveloped him. Finally, he remembered the feel of the energy as it circulated throughout his entire body. The pain and discomfort of something foreign taking residence within him.

Izuku felt a warm feeling spread through him as he remembered the myriad of sensations and emotions he had felt at the sight. Flashes of pink and orange and silver and purple flitted through his mind only serving him to pull him deeper into his thoughts.

He wasn't sure how long he had been at it, but he became vaguely aware of a rushing sensation underneath his skin. It was light and ethereal, but undeniably present. The feeling only grew as he locked onto the feeling more and more.

There was an abundance of warmth radiating from his stomach that spread from deep within right to the ends of his hair. He could feel the energy dancing beneath his skin and he instinctively latched onto it.

It was almost as if something unlocked itself within him. The energy that was within was now firmly in his control and slowly Izuku dared to open his eyes.

Dazzling blue energy radiated from him before vanishing into nothingness. In contrast to the time at the ruin, his body felt strong. Impossibly strong. He carefully removed his headphones before slowly rising to his feet.

He felt amazing.

"I can do it," Izuku said as his room was illuminated by the blue energy.

"I _can_ be a hero."

"Izuku, I'm home!"

The energy flared out of control as Izuku's mom called out at him. He ran to his curtain and he was surprised to see that it was well past sunset. The moon and stars twinkling brightly.

"H-Hi, Mom!" he called back in a panic.

Had he really been at it for the whole day?

"You didn't eat the food I left for you!" His mother called out to him from behind his door, "Are you feeling sick? Do I need to call an ambulance? What's that bright light in there? Did you have another All Might movie marathon and forget to eat?"

"Uh, yeah. It totally slipped my mind!"

Izuku tried to pull the energy back towards him and thankfully it worked immediately as his room was plunged into his darkness. A few moments later, his mother slipped the door open.

"Woah, it's dark in here," she said before closing the door again, "You should turn the lights on. Using your phone with the lights off is bad for your eyes! You have the next three weeks off school. If you keep this up, you'll need to go back with glasses!"

That would go down so well with Kacchan and his cronies.

Izuku let out a sigh of relief as his mother left his room. He walked to the light switch and flicked it on. He let out a gasp as he took in the state of his room.

All his clothes, shoes and All Might memorabilia had been blown all over his room. The ones closest to him were lightly singed and were still warm to the touch.

Damnit.

This would take him hours to fix.

* * *

The next day, Izuku woke up late enough to miss his mother. He found a note from his mother that she would be back a bit later than usual today. It was pretty good news.

That left him plenty of time to experiment. From what he could tell the energy boosted his body, but even then his theory felt off. It was hard to put a finger on it, but he could just sense the hidden potential beneath it all.

Quirks were a lot more cut and dry than this and they also didn't come from eating delicious, weirdly coloured fruit. The energy was definitely something special but so far Izuku could only turn into a stronger, glowy version of himself.

It was one thing to know you can do more. It was an entirely different thing to actually find a way to pull those things off. Izuku had managed to master conjuring the energy, but he hadn't gone beyond that yet for a few reasons.

If the carnage done to his room was any indication then it wouldn't exactly be smart to train at home. Quirk usage was heavily restricted and so he needed to find a place that Pro Heroes tended to avoid.

With that in mind, he pulled out his phone before opening a map of Musutafu. The map had circles of various colours that revealed the jurisdictions of various heroes and agencies. There were only a few blank spots and they were either too far away or too deep into an urban area to be useful.

Finally, though, he found the perfect spot.

Takoba Beach wasn't something that immediately popped into mind. In fact, he had to search more about it on his phone and he was pretty happy with what came up.

Well, not exactly. It was horrible that a beach had essentially been turned into a junkyard, but what that meant was there was probably very little foot traffic and he would be free to train his Quirk.

Did this qualify as a Quirk?

* * *

**Takoba Beach**

* * *

"This place is a dump," Izuku said as he took in the high stacks of used appliances, cars and all other sorts of trash.

"It's perfect!"

He made his way deeper into the junkyard so that he wouldn't be seen by those passing by. It was 9 AM and Izuku had seen no one, though, so he was probably fine.

It took him a few moments to find the perfect test dummy. A rusty, dilapidated machine dryer with a cracked door stood in front of him. Nothing was perched on it and so he didn't have to worry about a fridge falling on him or something to that effect.

Izuku lifted his arm and channelled the energy to his hand. In his mind, he had a vision of All Might lifting a large van to safety. That had been one of the more low-key displays of power that his idol had, but it served as good motivation.

If his Quirk was an Emitter type then he'd need to channel the energy to the relevant spots before anything. Or he'd be very likely to injure himself and he would not hear the end of it from his mother if he did that.

Izuku took a deep breath before closing his eyes. A few seconds later, his eyes snapped open revealing his hands to be wreathed in the blue energy.

"Okay, Izuku," he said under his breath, "Time to go Plus Ultra!"

Filled with the swagger that All Might's catchphrase gave him, he strutted up to the dryer. He places his hands on either side of the dryer and crouched down before trying to lift the machine.

It should have been simple.

Instead, his hands wrenched the sides of the washing machine off completely. The large panels were stuck to his hands. He shook his arms in an effort to get them loose and they did not budge. He kicked one of the panels with all his strength and he almost ripped his arm out the socket.

What. The. Hell?

Panic bloomed in his chest and paying no heed to how ridiculous he looked Izuku ran. He ducked and waved through the mazy junkyard before making a break for the water.

Maybe the dryer just had some really strong glue on it?

What if this was his new normal.

Izuku ran full tilt at the water screaming all the while. Arms and metal panels aloft making him look like some crazy tech worshipper. That didn't matter to him. He liked having hands and he wanted them back _now_.

He closed his eyes in preparation as he waited for the cold bite of the sea to wrench him free from the stupid plates. He kept running all the while and after some time Izuku noticed that A, he wasn't wet and, B, the panels were still attached.

Izuku opened his eyes and he nearly fainted as he saw that the reason he wasn't _in_ the water was that he was _on_ the water.

He screamed.

Right on cue, the panel detached from his hands and Izuku sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness," Izuku said as he slowed his running to a halt, "I got rid of the panels. Only after I screamed though. Was it because I lost control of my cool? Or was it because I realised that I can walk on water? Is that what this energy lets me do? There could be a lot of applications to this, but the Adhesive Hero doesn't sound like the future Number One. That being said~"

As he continued to think about the applications of surface sticking, Izuku shut out his surroundings. It was only when a fish flopped put the water and slapped him on the leg that he remembered where he was.

"A fish?" Izuku queried, "Wait I'm standing on—"

The rest of Izuku's sentence, ironically, was swallowed by the water as he fell into the murky depths. He screamed into the water before he began to tread water. He swam back to shore and flopped down on the ground as he looked up at the sky.

"I don't even know where to begin with this stupid thing."

* * *

Three weeks later, Izuku was actually feeling pretty pleased with himself which was far from the norm.

After he dried up and got over his panic, he began to see the benefits of what he had discovered. He could scale walls and tall buildings with ease and get the drop on his enemies.

What he would actually _do_ after he got the drop on them was unclear.

It had taken him five days to master sticking to solid surfaces. It had taken another seven for him to get the water walking down. He had done them simultaneously so, all in all, it took five days and twelve days respectively.

He now had ample evidence that the incident with the dryer turned out to be a fluke.

It was far and away easier to stick to stuff than it was to walk on water. He only needed a fixed amount to cling to any surface. A fridge, a tree, a wall, a fish— it was all the same.

Water walking on the other hand was _difficult_. He had to account for the ripples and waves and constantly adjust the stream of energy he was letting out. He had only figured this out when he had filled up the bathtub after being too lazy to go to the beach.

He had fooled himself into thinking he had gotten it right and he had ran full-tilt at the sea only to immediately get his pants wet. The dirty looks he had gotten on his way home had definitely left a lasting impression.

The only other interesting thing of note had to do with the lesser of the two discoveries. It turns out that if he undercooked a bit of the energy he used to stick to a surface then he could basically glide down whatever he was sticking to. The speed was heavily dependent upon how much he was actually using.

It was pretty useful because Izuku's body wasn't adapted to absorbing shock and trauma so controlling his descent was of the utmost importance. It would be embarrassing if he blew his knee out after climbing the wall into a cartel's den.

Maybe they'd let him live out of pity.

The other discovery he had made came from the opposite of the undercooking method. If he overcooked the amount of energy, then it was almost as if a force was pushed out whatever he was using.

He found this out when his foot had busted through a fridge door. Izuku was a lot more hesitant about training that part because it was stupidly easy to hurt himself.

His body couldn't really handle exerting that much force. His leg had ached for two days after just the one overzealous attempt. It was a good thing he tended to undercook the amount he had to channel or he would probably have had a permanent limp by now.

He had to train his body and he had scoured the internet for the best training course there was. There was one called the Decathlete and the title didn't quite state just how terrible it was.

It was a training program used by some of the best athletes at the Olympic Games back when they were still relevant. To someone like Izuku without a Quirk, it was _very_ relevant.

It built up multiple types of fitness and would hopefully give him an edge by the time of the UA entrance examinations. Or if he was being more honest, allow him to close the deficit between him and those who had already been training for years at this stage.

The exams were now just under a year away and Izuku felt more confident than ever that he could make it across the line.

Today was an off day for him. So, Izuku decided to forgo the beach and pass by a baker that was near his school. They made the best cakes e had been itching for a good cake and he had a decent amount saved up. Now was as good a time as any to get some.

He walked towards the bakery, but he got shoved out the way by a man who was running in the opposite direction. He wore a mask and cursed at Izuku as he ran past.

"That guy stole my purse!"

Despite himself, Izuku felt the desire within himself to do some good. He began to pursue the thief as he ducked and weaved through the crowds.

They finally turned into the alleyways and Izuku kept up the speed as he homed in on the man. The man kicked over a few trash cans to try and go down side alleys to stall Izuku but it was to no avail.

Izuku knew these specific alleyways like the back of his hand.

He vaulted over every obstacle and soon he was within touching distance of the thief as they ran towards a dead end. That changed as a tail unfurled itself from underneath the thief's shirt and struck Izuku in the chest.

The hit was strong and knocked the wind out of him completely. The man turned around to reveal himself as someone with some sort of reptilian mutation. His eyes were cold as he smirked down at Izuku.

"You wanted this. Stand up and fight,"

Izuku felt his limbs begin to shake. The man seemed to sense his fear as his tail slammed into the ground hard enough to cause spiderweb cracks.

"Are you scared?" the lizard man's tone was derisive before snorting, "Yeah, I wouldn't want to fight me neither."

Izuku clambered to his feet, but he was struck again by the man's tail. He could feel a large welt was forming on his side as he held it gingerly. That stung. This had been a bad idea. He had no chance against a hardened criminal.

"I'm gonna enjoy this."

"Deku, you freaking nerd!"

The statement was punctuated with a thunderclap of an explosion that sent the lizard man rocketing into the back wall. The thief smashed into the wall before falling to the ground unconscious. Kacchan stood in-between Izuku and the lizard man with a scowl on his face.

"I saw you run after this guy from across the street!" Kacchan turned to him and Izuku saw his palms were still smoking, "Was almost dying in the sticks not enough for you?"

Izuku couldn't find an answer as a swirl of emotions rose within him at the sight of Kacchan. It was always so hard to figure out where exactly they stood.

"Consider us even."

With that Bakugou was off and after a few seconds, Izuku followed suit. This area had a few Pro Heroes patrol it so there probably was one on their way right now.

He suddenly found himself not in the mood for dessert and as he trudged back to his house he kept replaying the fearlessness and power Kacchan had displayed.

Could Izuku really be a hero if he was too afraid and too _weak_ to stop a low-level thief?

This one encounter had been enough to sober him up. Yeah, he could stick to walls but that wasn't what he needed to be good let alone great. He needed more. He needed to be more.

* * *

Later that day, Izuku came back home to find a large package outside the door. It came up to his thigh and it had a note on the top. To his surprise, it was addressed to him.

"Izuku, we hope you will honour our request for a meeting. We heard you took a liking to certain items at the Samsara Ruin and so we decided to send you some stuff we think you might find interesting. Call us for an interview if stuff like this is to your liking. Kind Regards, Japan News Network."

The package had wheels which made it easy for him to get into his room. He removed all the packaging to reveal a large crate. He removed the lid and he almost wept at what was at the very top.

He had been forced to leave his All Might bag behind because it had a lot of artefacts in it. Apparently, you couldn't just take stuff from historical ruins. Not even if you discovered it!

The bag was empty and it still had the holes from the roots of the tree that had saved his life.

The bag had been placed on top of a rack that held the ceramics he had found in perfect moulds. It was probably how archaeologists transported stuff like this. Izuku set out all the ceramics on the living room table.

He knew his mom would be able to find a better spot for them than he could. That type of stuff was not exactly his strong suit. The only ceramic item that he kept was a mask. It kinda looked like a cat and would probably make for a good display piece.

The rest of the items were racks of kunai and shuriken — a lot more than he had stuffed into his bag. Izuku figured he now had about. He had only taken about 80 in total but he now had 250 on the dot.

How did a news network get their hands on this? And just to get an interview out of him?

There had to have been many copies of what was in here for them to have been given up so freely. It was also likely that prices for the artefacts would shoot right up once news of them hit the mainstream. And he was the trigger for that most likely.

Izuku wasn't exactly the type to keep stuff like this on display. Plus, he had no space with his room being taken up by all his All Might stuff. He only had a small sliver to spare right above the door.

Enough for a mask, but not enough for a rack of prehistoric weapons.

Izuku carefully placed the racks on his bed and right at the very bottom of the crate was perhaps the most valuable item of them all. There were a few more stuff like the headband he had found, but what stuck out was right in the centre of the rack.

Forty centimetres long and in surprisingly great condition was a scroll that was in a protective case.

He wiped his hands down on his pants before picking the case up. He removed the scroll before slowly opening it. As he should have expected, though, the scroll was completely blank.

He had been hoping for words or images or something, anything really, that would explain the energy he could now use. Surely it was no coincidence that the fruit had been right in the middle of the village's largest building.

He had been hoping to get some information from the scroll especially one that was so well-preserved. Now all he had was an admittedly very ornate scroll.

Maybe he could use it for his next Hero journal. He could start with the thief that had humiliated him.

Izuku took out one kunai as he judged its weight. He could have used this earlier in the day. Maybe he would have been taken a bit more seriously by the thief and Kacchan wouldn't have had to swoop in and save him.

The package had been a very welcome distraction from the incident with the thief, but that wasn't the case. Izuku packed all the weapons away before putting the scroll on his bed.

The short encounter with the thief flashed through his mind once more. The man's tail had hit Izuku hard enough to bruise. Kacchan had been able to get the drop on the thief and incapacitate him while Izuku had been rooted to the spot.

How far behind Kacchan and the others was he?

Bakugou was outstanding, but there would be hundreds of others near and maybe even above his level trying to get into UA. The demand to get into UA had only gotten higher once they announced that dorms were being built for the students.

Izuku had watched the press conference the school had given and apparently the primary reason the dorms were a way to foster relations between up and coming heroes. The second reason was also to allow them to ramp up the training they underwent.

If UA were investing so much more into their curriculum then would they want to take a shot on someone who could only use his quirk as some sort of glue?

No, he couldn't think like that. Somehow, he'd get into UA. That was a certainty.

Izuku opened the scroll in his lap as he continued to toy with the kunai — twirling it around by the ring on its handle. It kept falling out of his hand, though because he was unused to using such an odd item.

When the kunai fell off for the fifth time in less than a minute, Izuku grew frustrated. He tried to do the surface sticking exercise so it wouldn't go flying again. However, with the pent-up frustration from his encounter with Kacchan and also the disappointment of the empty scroll in his lap, he overcooked the amount he needed.

He had known the second he had done it and he flinched in preparation of the kunai crumpling in his hand. His eyes had closed on reflex, but he opened them slowly once he registered no pain.

Amazingly, the kunai was wreathed in the blue energy illuminating his room. Carefully, Izuku brought his finger along the edge of the kunai. He groaned as the kunai cut into his finger. A few droplets of blood fell from his finger onto the opened scroll on his lap, but that was irrelevant for now.

These weapons could somehow harness his energy. Izuku was certain that these weapons were all blunt, he'd checked multiple times and yet he'd just been cut by what felt like the sharpest knife ever.

What were these metal made of? Did it work on other stuff or was this metal the exception? At the junkyard, no other material, let alone metals, had done the same thing. Did the people from the ruins also harness this energy? It would definitely explain the high number of weapons in almost every house.

Izuku had found another intriguing aspect of his new ability and all it had cost was one very cool scroll that he could have probably sold for a fortune.

Oh, wait.

Izuku inspected the scroll under the light emanating from his kunai. His brow scrunched as he took in the large splatters of blood across the exposed section.

"How much blood did I lose? I should probably wrap this up."

He left to do just that and after applying a bandage, he returned to his room. He turned on the lights before he picked up the scroll and he frowned as he looked at the scroll.

The blood-spattered page now only had a single speck of blood on it. There was a lot less blood. Far less than what he had seen under the light of his energy.

...That couldn't be it.

Right?

Izuku channelled enough energy to be visible to his hand. He placed his hand just above the scroll. The energy shone onto the page and amazingly words began to appear on the page.

The writing was a little archaic, but Izuku was still able to understand everything for the most part.

"Chakra Theory and Applications by Hiruzen Sarutobi for the Sarutobi clan," Izuku peered at the title of the scroll.

If he wasn't dust in the wind by now, Izuku would have probably felt indebted to this Hiruzen Sarutobi guy for life.

He settled for a whispered thank you. He'd know what it meant.

Fully unrolled, the scroll probably had enough space for Izuku to write out 20 of his journals — and that with illustrations. Speaking of illustrations, Izuku had been skimming the scroll, but his eyes were caught on the first of hopefully many illustrations.

Were those hands?

"Handseals? Jutsu?"

The gloominess had passed and Izuku found himself equally parts invested and excited for the future.

* * *

**Author Notes:**

**That was Chapter 2.**

**I know there's probably quite a few hoping for Izuku to start busting out major jutsu and we'll get there. This story would be pretty dull if Izuku could just bust out a Kirin or Rasenshuriken. Was the scroll a bit too convenient? Kinda, but on a real note, it would take me decades to find out chakra isn't just superglue and that's if I discovered anything at all lol.**

**A few changes here and there. The dorms being the main one. I _love_ the dorms probably from my days in boarding school. It opens up a ton of avenues and so it is done.**

**I said this as the top, but thanks for all the kudos, comments and etc. I love hearing from you guys so don't be shy. Drop a coin in the can.**


	3. "It was a slow news day?"

**A bit longer than usual. Hope you guys enjoy it.**

* * *

At first, when Izuku had begun to read the scroll, a feeling of trepidation came over him. Don't get him wrong. He was amazed at what he could one day be capable of, but at the same time did one person really need all this power.

Conjuring the elements, weaving illusions and boosting your strength to unfathomable degrees. And that was without getting into the _absurd_ stuff like being able to heal perilous wounds or make exploding symbols or pocket dimensions from ink and paper.

Needless to say, it was all quite a bit to take in.

He had calmed down (and truthfully been a bit disappointed) when he realised that he was quite far off from being able to do any of those. He'd get there one day hopefully.

There was some good news. He could finally put a name to the energy he used— chakra. Apparently, people were born with chakra and the origins were unclear, but Hiruzen had been very clear to say that everyone had chakra in them.

That was definitely not the case nowadays at least.

Quirks were similar to chakra, but they seemed a lot less versatile but that came with the trade-off of being easier to master. Hiruzen had mentioned in passing how he had trained for months to be able to make a spark of fire from his chakra.

Quirks, presumably from being so closely tied to people's genetic code, just had an inherent mastery to it. They still needed to be trained, but it was as if a base level of knowledge came prepackaged with a Quirk.

Izuku had no such luck.

He would have to grind it out for the next year to get into UA. Thankfully, Hiruzen's scroll had more than enough information to help him get a handle on his chakra. He had already earmarked what he would train.

Chakra was a combination of physical and mental energy. So, as Izuku's mind and body got stronger his chakra did as well. It was also possible to run out of chakra which Izuku should probably have guessed.

All that aside, Izuku had a plan for what jutsu he would first learn. The scroll had a fair number of jutsu in it, but Izuku knew he had to learn how to walk before he could run.

And before he did walk, he studied how to walk.

The three easiest jutsu in the scroll (according to Hiruzen) were called the Substitution, Transformation and Clone. The Clone was cool, but undeniably the simplest of the three. The clones could not interact with any solid surfaces, but as a tradeoff, they barely cost any chakra.

The Transformation and Substitution were pretty much Quirks on their own. The former allowed him to transform into anything whilst the latter allowed him to swap places with another object.

There were some limitations, of course. Both the Transformation and Substitution worked best with objects around the user's size. If he went too small, it required accurate control and if he went too large it required heaps and heaps of chakra.

The activation process was also a bit of pain. The handseals helped Izuki mould and shape his chakra in the right patterns to execute jutsu but as things stood he could barely get his fingers in the right positions for some of them.

For the moment, before he went to Takoba Beach again, he was first going to get the handseals down. It would be awfully embarrassing if he lost a fight because his fingers got a cramp or something stupid like that.

"Izuku, I'm home!" his mother hollered at him, "I went to your favourite— What are these plates doing here?"

Izuku put the scroll down and dispelled his chakra in a hurry. He had been so invested in the scroll, he'd forgotten to eat and he'd also forgotten that his mother would come back home eventually.

What would he say if she caught him using his chakra?

He put the scroll in its box before putting it deep in his closet. He walked into the living room to find his mother inspecting the plates. She had a paper bag which probably contained takeaways of some kind.

"Hi, Izuku," his mom said her whole frame just seemed exhausted, "Where did these come from? Some of these are really nice, but—"

They did just kinda appear out of nowhere.

"It was from a news network," Izuku interjected and he took the paper bag from his mother to prepare it, "I think the Konoha ruin is getting a lot of attention and this was a way to persuade me to give them an exclusive interview. It's very nice of them."

"No it's not," his mother said with a raised brow, "The media just wants to get as money as possible. A child getting lost on an island and only being found by happenstance would be a slight on both the heroes assigned to the case and the resort owners. The public would eat that up."

"But the money could really help us out," Izuku knew his mother had been working far too hard over the years, "You wouldn't have to work so many hours and once I become a Pro, you wouldn't have to work at all!"

The last part about being a Pro had just slipped out and for just a moment he saw a flicker of pity come over his mother's face. That flicker was still enough to cause a surge of pain in his chest.

"Izuku..." his mother's tone was babying and it only served to amplify the pain he felt, "I thought you got over this. You _can't_ be a Pro. You can do literally anything else."

It was too bad, the one thing he wanted to do was the one his mom didn't think he _could_ do.

"You are many things. Smart, sweet, strong, but you don't have a Quirk. You could become a doctor or officer or—"

He wanted to show her what he could do. He could just walk up the walls or channel his chakra. Anything would do, but he didn't. Izuku wasn't mad at her— not at all. He understood her even, but for as long as he could remember his mother didn't have faith in his dream.

It hurt.

"It doesn't matter if I have a Quirk or not!" Izuku snapped at his mother and a part of him regretted it almost immediately, "I just wish you had some faith in me...There's so much I wish I could show you, but not like this."

Izuku felt warm tears trace his face. His mother seemed surprised by the sheer emotion in his voice. He wiped them away as he met her gaze— filled with otherworldly confidence.

"I will get into UA and I will become an inspiration to everyone. To show them that they can become more even if the people in their lives don't have faith in them."

Izuku turned away from his mother and a small smile bloomed on his face even as tears continued to fall from his eyes.

"Because that's what heroes do."

Izuku walked out of the room and didn't look back even after his mother called for him. He locked the door behind him without bothering to lock it.

His mom was very good at respecting his privacy. He usually cleaned his own room before he left for school so she didn't often have much of a reason to come inside.

He had to map out a new schedule. He was returning to school in a week and he would have far less time to exercise and master his chakra. He also needed to set aside enough time for school work. UA wouldn't accept him if his high school scores were bad.

Izuku had plenty of empty notebooks and he took one from the top of the pile. It took him hours of online research and planning to come up with a suitable schedule. This was the easy part. The hardest was yet to come.

When Izuku was done, he was about to shut down his computer when he saw he had an email. He logged into his account and he blinked at the number of new messages.

Message from Japan News Network

Message from Archaeologists Association of Japan

Message from Star News

Message from Citizens United

The list went on and on and on.

The first was from the people who had sent him the items. They were very complimentary and polite and wanted to have an interview with him about the ruins. Izuku hesitated until he saw the price tag.

That was a lot _and_ it was negotiable.

Izuku researched Japan News Network and he was it was a little unsurprising to see that it was a part of the Yaoyorozu umbrella. They probably felt the need to control the narrative of the whole thing to have minimal blowback on themselves.

To be fair, it really wasn't anyone's fault except for Kacchan. A part of Izuku was furious at Kacchan, but at the same time, he recognised that not only was it an accident, but he would have never gotten these powers if Kacchan hadn't blown that overhang to pieces.

Izuku checked the other emails and they were all pretty much the same. They all wanted to interview him about his experiences at the ruins. There were a few overzealous ones that Izuku would likely steer clear of, though.

They seemed to border between fanatics and conspiracy nuts and Izuku was wise enough to not deal with those types.

It took him over an hour to respond to all the offers. He put his computer on standby and as he climbed into bed he realised that he would be giving a ton of interviews and maybe some mainstream attention.

An introvert's worst nightmare.

"What have I done?"

* * *

**6 Months Later — Takoba Beach**

* * *

Izuku had his eyes trained on the washing machine before him. It was a good fifteen metres away from him and it was taunting him. He looked at the machine. The machine looked at him.

It was scared.

As it should be.

Izuku's chakra surged beneath his skin and latched onto the washing machine. The link didn't shatter and he fought to keep the storm of energy beneath his skin under control. The moon and stars above served as his only witness.

Finally, the storm reached a crescendo and Izuku felt his position shift instantaneously. He stumbled a bit awkwardly on the sand before regaining his footing.

So, the stability went down if he did a sealless Substitution at fifteen metres. An increase of three metres. Good. The sand probably exacerbated the effect too which was also good news.

Perhaps if he were on a more consistent surface then he could increase the distance. Still though, as it stood, this was the furthest he knew he could cast the jutsu without using any hand seals.

In the 6 months since Izuku had found the scroll, he had made, in his opinion, good progress on the Academy Three as Hiruzen sometimes referred to them as.

The jutsu Izuku felt the most comfortable with were the Clone and Transformation. That was honestly down to being able to practice them with ease. In the shower, on his bed, on the toilet and everywhere in between.

When those jutsu failed, one of two things happened. One, absolutely nothing besides a puff of smoke signifying the deactivation or failure or in the case of the Clone, a weird nightmarish copy/blob of Izuku gets made.

The second one had left some scars.

The Substitution was a lot more noticeable when it failed. The first time it had failed, Izuku had been sent flying into a fridge. It was pretty difficult to explain away the bruise to his mother and all the people at school.

Somehow, Izuku had a good feeling that telling them he flew into a fridge would make his tentatively decent social status take a hit.

The school had caught wind of him being found in the ruins. Or as he now called it— Konoha. The archaeologists working in the ruins had found the name a whole two months after Izuku had found it in the scroll.

Admittedly, that had made him just a _little_ smug...

By the time of his return to school, he had given the first of many interviews to various news organisations and documentarians. No one at school had known the reasons for his absence especially since Kacchan had kept his lips sealed for some reason.

So when word of a boy from Musutafu discovering a ruin hit the news, Izuku had had to deal with a lot more attention than he was comfortable with. It did not help that the archaeologists working on Konoha had found evidence of Quirk usage in the ancient civilisation.

Konoha predated the Luminescent Baby by well over a millennium going by even the most conservative guesses. That made his involvement in all of it all the worse. The idea that Quirks had been present for that long dominated the news and with that revelation came a lot of speculation.

There was the relatively mundane stuff like Quirks being a government project that spiralled out of control. That was an old classic. There was also the ridiculous like Quirks existing because of a migrating alien species that laid their seeds from planet to planet before returning to reap what they had sown.

That one had come out of left field.

Anyway, what this meant for Izuku was that typically he'd get recognised fairly often by people he'd never met. The people he did know would also badger him for answers, opinions and even money. As one could imagine, this made it far more difficult to slip off to Takoba Beach.

So to get some peace while out and about, Izuku had taken to wearing the ceramic mask he had gotten from Konoha. It had no straps and to his slight shame, it had taken him a few hours to use the Surface Sticking on the mask to keep it on.

Face coverings weren't all that uncommon in Japan. Some people weren't comfortable with the mutations certain Quirks granted and so they covered up. The first time he had worn it he had gotten barely any attention which was a godsend.

A ceramic mask was a bit unusual, but considering the fact that the Number 2 Hero was a man whose clothes were made out of actual fire, it barely made a ripple.

Izuku just kept the mask and his hood on long enough to get past all the crowds of people going about their day. Takoba Beach was as empty as ever and became a sanctuary for his training sessions which were usually early in the morning or began late in the afternoon.

It was a cool Thursday night and Izuku knew he had to return home eventually. He had gotten a bit overzealous and had lost track of time. The moon was shining down on him making his skin glow. His frame had gotten noticeably larger a result of his physical training.

His mother had obviously noticed that he had gotten bigger but aside from his larger appetite, she hadn't said much. Izuku was always training or studying so that meant he didn't see his mother as often as usual which was good and bad.

They had both silently agreed to not bring up the Hero stuff until it became relevant. They got along just as well as they always had, but certain topics were anathema to both of them. The only time they had come close to broaching said topics was when his mother signed off on the consent forms UA sent to all their applicants.

She signed it off without a word of protest. As a matter of fact, the only thing his mother had only ever taken umbrage with since their argument was the number of weapons in his room. Understandably, the racks of kunai and shuriken did not put her heart at ease.

To be fair, Izuku hadn't begun to use those at all. You needed a license for weapons and those weren't just handed out to middle school students. Plus, with the kill order ban on heroes, he'd need to show a lot of skill with them before being given the green light.

Izuku had to think of alternative ways to fight if he ever ran out of chakra. Hiruzen, who Izuku had slowly realised was as much a scholar as he was a formidable fighter, had mentioned being prepared for any situation.

Izuku hadn't run out of chakra at all yet. He hadn't even been close to wasn't sure if it was down to the amount he had, the control he had or some other unknown factor. What he did know was that he had to be prepared for a situation where his chakra was useless to him.

He had debated joining a dojo, but there was no chance he could squeeze that into his schedule as well. He was already running on just a few hours of sleep and more than once he'd fallen asleep in school on the bus and even here at Takoba a few times.

There were 24 hours in a day and somehow he needed more time.

Thankfully, the scroll had an answer for that.

The next section of the Scroll had him giddy with excitement. It was a jutsu called the Body Flicker that involved boosting his natural movement speed to an amazing degree. It would cut down on all the time he spent going from place to place giving him an extra ten hours every week once he got it down.

That was if he could get it down in the first place.

He had already seen with the kunai all those months ago that chakra could boost whatever it was channelled into and so far only the Konoha-made kunai and shuriken seemed to accept his chakra. Perhaps, it had to do with the forging method.

In any case, the Body Flicker confirmed that the same effect could work on his body. Apparently, masters of the Body Flicker could rapidly move from place to place in the blink of an eye. An especially amazing feat if the nauseating effects were as bad as the Scroll claimed they were.

Still, though, Izuku was cautiously optimistic that he could devise a way to boost his strength and speed even if it wasn't the Body knew that his chakra system extended throughout all parts of his body so he wouldn't be limited that way.

Izuku had already begun the research that he'd need to pull off Enhancement. The problem was the vast majority of people with super strength and super speed Quirks already knew how to control the boost or even worse their bodies were built to withstand those forces.

A great example was All Might. His Quirk wasn't exactly clear, but many had theorised that he had such precise control over his strength as well as special adaptations that made his Quirk so formidable.

No normal human (or at least normal Quirked humans) could punch hard enough to collapse a building and be perfectly fine afterwards.

In fact, there were many video compilations of people punching holes in stuff like boulders and tanks. The difference was that these people often also shattered every bone in their arms that proved this to be true.

Izuku hadn't seen one in years, but he knew that it was one of Kacchan's favourite pastimes. Not all Quirks were created equal after all and that was a big part of why hero worship was still a thing. The control and power displayed by Pro Heroes were awe-inspiring.

Izuku's body was not super resilient or made for super strength. Therefore, he theorised that like the Body Flicker he would have to reinforce his body _and at the same time_ use the Enhancement technique for no blowback.

Needless to say, that was probably a long way away.

A brisk wind washed over Izuku's position. He only had on a pair of shorts so the wind made him scramble for his shirt and hoodie. It was getting pretty cold out. He put his shirt, shoes and hoodie on before he began to walk out the maze that was the beach junkyard.

He had checked three times to make sure that the Scroll was still in his bag. Izuku had considered writing down the Scroll's contents, but he had decided against it. He tried to reason that it could be catastrophic if it fell in the wrong hands.

The real reason was that the scroll was way too long. Izuku was pretty sure that a team of ten transcribers would give up before they got halfway. Admittedly, it was stupid of him to take it everywhere, but if he didn't he would just worry that it was gone.

"Leave me alone!"

Izuku froze as he heard a woman's voice break the serenity of the beach. He heard other voices argue with the woman in question and Izuku bit his lip as he realised what was up.

If a bunch of criminals were harassing her then they must have known that this area was practically deserted. Even if he called a Pro, it would take a few minutes for them to get here and a lot could happen from now until then.

Izuku stuck to the shadows as he approached the arguing voices. It was quite a bit further than his usual entry/exit point into the junk maze. He stopped behind an enormous metal cabinet that was at least four times his height.

Stacks of cars were all around him and made it hard for him to get a sense of just how many people there were.

"Look lady, I'm not going to ask you again," said a deep voice, "Give us all your valuables. That includes the fancy necklace and ring you've got on. That looks like it's worth a lot, amirite Gear?"

"At least a few thousand, Crank," Gear replied with a very high-pitched voice, "We could get that car I've been eyeing up. The ladies will—"

"Please, not those!" the woman sobbed, "They're all I have left of my mother! Please we only met here to sell you this camera. You can take it for free! It's full HD and I've never used it! The seal on the box isn't even broken—OW!"

Izuku had heard enough. He was about to leap into action when he caught sight of his face in a rearview mirror. He would get into deep trouble if he intervened.

A Quirkless child taking on two criminals? And that child being the Konoha Kid too? That would be goodbye to anonymity and probably any decent Hero Academy— let alone UA.

That couldn't happen.

Izuku silently shrugged his bag off and he wiped his palms off before taking out his mask.

Hopefully, this thing was battle-ready.

* * *

Sumire could already hear Izuna mocking her now.

"Another full hard drive? You hoard too much, Sumire. "

"You interned for _how much?_ You're too pliant, Sumire."

"Oh, you sweet summer child. You can't mix peanut butter and eggs, Sumire."

Their relationship had been short-lived for a myriad of reasons. One of the more prominent ones being financial. She was still looking for a job, but investigate journalists weren't in hot demand.

Izuna did not like that. He barely wanted her to work in the first place despite what he had said to his family at all those gatherings.

Sumire did not need nor did she want the camera. It had been a gift from a very rich and distant relative of Izuna who had heard about her dream at one of their family dinners.

The camera was objectively superb, but she couldn't even look at it without being reminded of all the squabbles she and Izuna had had over her career choice.

She'd found a buyer almost immediately and when she had heard they wanted to meet, she had driven to the meeting zone without researching the area first.

She didn't need the damn thing in the first place, though, and the price the buyer was offering was way too good to pass up.

Besides, people wouldn't commit crimes when heroes were around, right?

Wrong.

"You didn't have to slap her!" Gear said his voice grating on her ears, "Just rip the necklace and ring off and we'll be gone. I think she even left her car in the lot over there. It looks awful, but one man's trash and all that."

Her cheek burned from the slap Crank had given her. It had been enough to floor her and she looked up at her two assailants who were bathed in moonlight. Despite the fear she felt, she did not blink.

"Just give them over here, lady," Crank's eyes were a mismatch with one being a dull black and the other a bright red, "I can see you using your Quirk. It must be useless if you're just lying there in the trash!"

Crank laughed uproariously and Sumire hoped it would attract attention. That died when she realised how it sounded like it was barely extending past the general area.

"Hurry up, Crank," Gear said with a tinge of annoyance, "I can only muffle sounds for so long. We need to leave before a Pro finds their way here."

"Too late."

No sooner than a second after the words left his mouth did a shadow come over Crank and Gear. Sumire looked up into the sky to see a cloaked figure standing atop the metal cabinet she was leaning against. His whole body was draped in shadows giving him something of an intimidating presence.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Crank said taking out a gun which drew no response from the figure, "Heroes always have to identify themselves! I know what your silence means... We've got a wannabe over here, Gear!"

Sumire had moved away just enough to get a better view of her would-be rescuer. The black cloak was not closed in the middle and it revealed black skin-tight clothing underneath. The figure blended into the shadows near perfectly.

In fact, the only thing that made him stick out was the white mask with vague patterns over it that she could not quite make out.

It looked vaguely familiar, but Sumire was more concerned with the gun Crank was holding. Guns were still a thing and were a staple of criminals. The rise of Quirks had made acquiring guns a lot easier— a vestige of the panic that arose after the Awakening.

Crank pointed the gun at the vigilante and said to Geat, "Things are about to get loud. You know what to do."

There was a burst of smoke before Crank fired a spray of bullets at the Mask. Sumire flinched as she expected a body to fall to the floor riddled with gunshot wounds.

Instead, a rusty motorcycle fell to the floor. It was enough of a shock to startle Gear and Crank and also give her enough time to scoot a bit away. Her ears still ringing from the loudness of the gunshots.

She did not run away, though.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Gear shouted to his partner, "I thought you took him down!"

"I thought so too!" Crank said with equal parts shock and horror as he scanned the area, "He definitely wasn't using a Quirk! I would've seen it!"

A flash of white off to the side caught all of their attention. It was the Masked Man. Crank emptied his clip in the direction of the man. The bullets went straight through the man and punched into the windows and tyres of the car behind him.

"Yeah, take that— what the hell?!"

Sumire's jaw dropped.

"I don't like this at all, Crank!"

Crank had seen it. Gear had seen it and most importantly, Sumire had seen it. She did not look away even as Crank fired his gun at her apparent saviour. The vigilante did not react as the last of Crank's bullets went right through him.

Before Sumire could even say anything, the man faded away as if he was a ghost.

"I don't understand what this is. This is—"

"Impossible," Crank said unknowingly completing her sentence before a distorted voice spoke out from the only exit path from the junkyard.

"You are going nowhere."

Crank pointed his gun at the man and this time he seemed to hesitate before he instead grabbed onto Sumire. She struggled against his grip, but she froze when the cold metal of the gun pressed to her skin.

"I've got one left in the chamber," Crank said and Sumire could feel the sneer on his face, "Put your hands up or this purple bitch's dentist will have a lotta work to do tomorrow."

"You don't have to do this," Sumire pleaded with the man and she was able to catch a reflection of their situation in a nearby mirror, "You're only making things worse."

"Shut up! Put your hands up, hood."

* * *

Izuku had been foolish and arrogant and everything else in the book.

His Transformation was still holding up and his Substitution and Clone had confused the criminals but he had messed up. He should have sent out another decoy clone before finding a way to escape with the woman with the purple hair.

Now, they were both in trouble.

He raised his hands to show he meant no harm. By some miracle, his hands weren't shaking with the fear and panic that was building within him.

"Thanks to your trickery, there's only one bullet left in here," Crank said with arrogance dripping from his cold smile, "A Pro would have never been caught like you were so I know you're just someone playing dress-up. Between the two of you, one of you is leaving with a bit of metal in you."

Izuku looked towards Gear who was standing still with an odd look on his face.

"Gear can't move while using his Quirk," Crank explained casually reminding Izuku of the situation at hand, "Time to choose, Hooded Man."

"Me. Shoot me," Izuku said his voice distorted and completely unlike his own, "She did nothing wrong."

The voice distortion wasn't something he was doing consciously. Maybe the mask was more interesting than he had first thought.

Was he really thinking about the mark's features right before he was about to get shot?

"Good answer," Crank said before shoving the woman harshly to the side, "Maybe you should be a Pro! You've got that martyr attitude down perfectly!"

Crank pointed the gun at the woman and Izuku reached towards the man with both his hands, "Leave her alone!"

"The necklace," Crank said ignoring Izuku causing the woman to shake her head, "Give it to me or you're the one who dies."

Izuku felt hopeless.

Was this what Heroes faced daily?

He wasn't ready for this.

He needed more time, more training, more knowledge.

More power.

Izuku felt his chakra surge beneath his skin and it began to emanate off of him in waves. The woman and Gear noticed it almost immediately, but Crank was the last to realise it.

Idly, Izuku noticed that his chakra wasn't the usual bright blue.

It was purple.

Crank fired a bullet at him, but Izuku felt something burst from his hand before he used it to slap something aside. It was only when he heard a windshield crack behind him that he realised that he had slapped a bullet aside.

Izuku looked at his hand and he saw a strange metal rod sticking out of his palm. It didn't hurt or anything, but it did feel like he had to take it out. The woman's eyes were screwed shut momentarily and Izuku saw that Crank had dropped his gun out of fear.

He pointed his hand at Crank and through no thought of his own, the rod was fired from his hand before slamming into Crank's stomach. The impact was enough to floor the rather well-built man.

The second rod was fired, but this one pegged onto Crank's shirt and pulled the criminal along before slamming him into the metal cabinet. The rod was buried deeply into the cabinet and Crank hung from it by shirt like a puppet with his strings cut.

He was unconscious.

Izuku realised that Crank must have hit his head on the metal cabinet. Ouch. That wasn't important, though. Izuku Substituted with the motorcycle from before and picked up the first rod.

It was warm.

Gear, in contrast to Crank, was overweight and lacked any sort of co-ordination. The man also seemed exhausted from using whatever sound muffling Quirk he had and that made him easy pickings for Izuku.

Before he could do anything, though, Gear collapsed to the floor half-exhausted and half scared out of his mind.

"Please don't hurt me!" Gear said as he laid in the trash on the floor, "I'm not even violent I swear."

Izuku heard a snort and he saw that the woman was watching him rather intently now. She appeared a bit worse for wear but was ultimately uninjured. That was good news.

Izuku ripped off Gear's jacket before using it to tie the man's arms behind him. He removed the strange rod keeping Crank suspended before using his jacket to do the same. He then tied the two of them together for good measure before turning to the woman.

"Call Kamui Woods. His agency is the nearest to here. Are you okay?" Izuku said and the woman nodded as she typed rapidly into her phone sending an SOS to said agency.

They stared at each other in silence for a fair while. The woman had purple hair and red eyes that seemed to glow unnaturally underneath the moonlight.

"Yes, I am," the woman said sagging in relief, "Thanks to you."

"U-Uh, what?" Izuku stuttered and the distortion on his voice made it all the worse, "I don't deserve that. I almost got you killed! Things would have been—"

"A lot worse if you weren't here," the woman said before rising to her feet and walking right up to him, "What agency do you work for?"

"A-Agency?" Izuku's mind blanked underneath the woman's stare, "Best Jeanist's?"

"That sounded like a question."

"I don't work for an agency," Izuku said finally causing the woman to nod, "I was in the area and heard these guys giving you trouble. I'm not licensed, but I could not stand by and let that happen."

"Thank you," the woman said her eyes boring into Izuku.

Did she not need to blink?

All of a sudden, he was pulled into a hug. Izuku was frozen solid as the woman held onto him tightly.

"You may not be a hero, but you are my hero," the woman said stepping back, "Do you have a name?"

"Uhhhhhhh, the White Mask?"

"That still sounds like a question," the woman said, but before Izuku could respond the sound of sirens reached their ears, "You should go now. Unless you want to be sent to prison."

"R-Right!" Izuku said and he was about to beat it when the woman called out to him again.

"Any inspirational words for your newest fan? Or maybe an explanation?"

"I did what I had to do," Izuku said adjusting his stance and feeling the metal rods shift from their position tucked against his waistband. He had to put those in his bag. His fingerprints were all over it.

"Because that's what heroes do."

* * *

Izuku had fled into the darkness of the night as he heard the police cars turn the final corner. He dropped his Transformation and he weaved through the alleys of Musutafu eventually coming out on a busy street.

It was a weekday, but still, people were out and about. Izuku kept his head down as he bobbed and weaved through the crowds. The smell of food, sweat and alcohol wafted through the air only serving to make him antsy.

The police would be looking for someone a lot taller and bigger than him, but he still felt some trepidation. What if someone had followed him this? What if they saw him drop his Transformation? They could have recognised him from any of the Konoha specials floating around and the police would be at his home before he was.

Izuku left the populated area as he took a shortcut through the alleys. Normally, this wasn't an option at night, but right now he was all out of options. The rods he had created from seemingly nothing were in his bag with his scroll and they made loud clanging noises as he ran through the dark and empty alleys.

He got out near his house and he sped down the street only slowing down when he saw no officers or Pros outside the apartment building. He climbed up the steps two at a time before entering his flat in a hurry.

His mother was glued to the TV and he froze as he saw what was showing on the TV.

"We have never heard of this Takoba Beach Vigilante, but he will be apprehended," said Kamui Woods his tone cool and harsh.

"Is that really fair to him?" the reporter said shoving a mic to Kamui's face, "It is safe to say that if it were not for him, the victim a Ms Sumire Utsusu would not be up and about. Reportedly, you only happened upon her _because_ the vigilante was there in the first place to subdue the criminals."

"That may be true. However, all Heroes must be licensed," Kamui said with an edge to his tone, "It will not always go so smoothly if a civilian intervenes."

"How smoothly would it have gone if the vigilante had not intervened?"

Kamui seemed to glare at the rather insipid reporter before turning away.

"That's enough questions. I have work to do."

"There you have it, ladies and gentlemen," the reporter said smiling towards the camera, "The Pro Heroes would rather you stand by than help your fellow humans— We at Starlight News will always bring you pure and raw news. This is Masukomi Sousa at the Takoba Beach Junkyard—"

"Izuku!"

Izuku flinched as he tore his focus away from the TV. His mother was looking at him and her face was scrunched up in concern.

"I called your name three times," she said as she turned the TV off, "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, just a little tired," Izuku said wiping the sweat off his forehead, "I think I'll go shower now. Did you make any food?"

"Of course I did," his mother said and she continued speaking as he walked away, "Are you sure everything is fine, Izuku? You look pale."

Izuku paused before taking a deep breath. He turned back to his mom and smiled.

"I'm fine, Mom. I promise," Izuku said with a warm smile, "I think I just pushed myself too hard today and I've still got some homework I didn't finish in the afternoon."

Silence.

"...alright," his mother said finally, "I'm glad you're okay. With all these crazies running around who knows what could've happened. You heard about what happened at Takoba, right? People cannot just take the law into their own hands. That's what the Pros are for."

"I saw the police cars drive that way," Izuku said feeling a bit queasy, "It's a good thing they caught those two criminals."

"Were there two of them?" his mother queried, "I didn't see anyone mention that. Usually, that type of stuff only comes out later. I guess something like this would have some leaks."

Izuku let out a sigh as his mother explained away her own question. Finally, he was able to peel off and go into the bathroom. He turned on the shower and he undressed as he waited for the shower to heat up.

Izuku inspected his face in the mirror finding his skin to be unnaturally pale. He closed his eyes as he recalled the short scramble between him and the two criminals.

If those rods hadn't appeared when they did, he would have been—

Izuku stumbled over to the toilet before puking right in the bowl. His skin crawled and his head throbbed as the reality of the situation settled on him.

He could have _died._

He was alive by mere happenstance.

If Crank had fired a bit more to the right then Izuku would have bled out in the heart of a junkyard with nothing to his name. No lives saved, no children inspired, just...nothing.

That caused another bout of puking. It went on until he was dry heaving and it was only then that Izuku saw the room was filled with steam from the shower.

He went to the sink to rinse his mouth and he frowned as he saw blood leaking from his nose. He wiped it away before hopping into the shower. The biting heat of the water helped to calm him down and by the time he was out of the shower he felt a lot calmer.

He dressed quickly and finished off the last of his homework before opening his bag. He took out the metal rods and he marvelled at them. One had a blunt end while the other ended in a dastardly sharp point.

These had come from his skin. There was no blemish on either of them even the one that had deflected a bullet. Interestingly, they were warm to the touch almost as if they had their own source of heat.

"Could it be?"

There was only one way to find out.

Izuku channelled his chakra into one of the rods and he blinked as he realised that the rods weren't rejecting his chakra. He pulled the chakra he had put in the rod out and to his surprise it crumbled away to dust.

"Cool," Izuku breathed as the dust blew across his room and then dissipated in barely visible sparks of blue.

He did the same to the other rod which left him with neither of the weapons he had used against Crank and Gear. That was good. A sharpened rod would have definitely not been the sort of thing to keep with you— at home or elsewhere.

Izuku tried to summon another rod, but he sighed as nothing happened. It reminded him of his discovery of Water Walking and Surface Sticking which Hiruzen alluded to being exercised for gaining control of one's chakra.

Somehow, he had to reverse engineer the rods. They were too useful for him to simply ignore and what if they popped out if he got startled by a cat or something in public? That would be an awful look.

Izuku got ready for bed and before he slept he saw that "TBV" was trending. It probably wasn't important. Izuku fell asleep almost instantly the day's events catching up with him.

It was all buried and gone, now though. He probably wouldn't have to worry about the incident for the rest of his life.

* * *

The next morning Izuku was slightly surprised to see the Takoba incident still being talked about.

It was a slow news day. That's what he told himself to keep himself calm.

He kept calm as radio show hosts talked about a hooded man with a shining white mask as well as mentioning Gear and Crank by name.

It was a slow news day.

Izuku had made it to his class, he was confident that the thing would blow over by lunch.

It's not like what he had done had been spectacular by any stretch. He would just be the flavour of the morning before fading into blissful—

"Did you see the video?!" shouted one of his classmates, "The TBV deflected a bullet! Do you know what kind of reflexes you need for that?"

—ignorance.

"Deflecting a bullet? That was decent at best! What _was_ cool was how TBV just appeared like a looming shadow. Those guys looked _so_ scared!"

TBV. Takoba Beach Vigilante. How did Nara know the specifics though?

"His name isn't TBV! That's what the feds call him. You heard the video. He wants to be called The White Mask!"

Video? What was going on?

Izuku scanned his class to see everyone in his class engaged in conversation and sure enough, they were all talking about the Takoba Beach Vigilante or, in simpler terms, him.

"He got shot like 4 times and then just faded away! That's an amazing Quirk!"

It was a slow news day?

"That's not his Quirk He fired these weird objects from his hands and was glowing purple. That is definitely his Quirk. Did you see that Crank guy after he got hit with one? He could barely move!"

This was really bad.

"I think the best part about The White Mask is his attitude," said Ami dreamily a girl who looked down on Izuku and quite a few others, "He's so dreamy! I'm glad I found the video on that Sumire chick's website."

Izuku froze as he fully processed Ami's words.

"Where's the video?" Izuku said to Ami surprising himself and the others with the urgency in his voice, "Is this from the Takoba Beach Vigilante?"

"Wow, Midoriya. You said all that without stuttering," said one of Ami's friends her tone mocking, "I guess spending some time in that ruin did you some good."

There were a few chuckles here and there, but Izuku could not care less about that at the moment.

Ami realised that her friend's jibe wouldn't chase him off and she scoffed before answering, "It's trending number 1 everywhere. I thought a nerd like you would have known all about this, but I guess it's way above your paygrade. Besides, his name isn't the TBV or whatever."

Izuku ignored the laughs from the rest of his class as he got out his phone. Sure enough after searching Sumire's name, he was lead directly to a website with a purple design and an article at the very top. It was the headline that made him freeze.

"Exclusive footage of The Takoba Beach Vigilante in action."

Izuku clicked on the article and played the video. He frowned as he saw the whole encounter right from the perspective of Sumire. Izuku was dead certain there had been no cameras so how—

Her eyes. The lack of blinking. Sumire's eyes could record whatever she saw! That explained how everyone knew intimate deals of what was _supposed_ to be an intimate conversation.

The video ended with him running away before it switched to a video of Sumire speaking to the camera.

"The White Mask saved my life and I could not stand the slander that was in the press," Sumire said and her eyes weren't red anymore. They were now just a normal black.

"I am Sumire Utsusu and as an investigative journalist, it is my prerogative to tell the public the truth!" Sumire said her passionate tone doing the opposite of calming Izuku down while the others around him were taken by Sumire's fire and fury.

"No one is safe. Even the White Mask will be brought out of the shadows and into the light. As you saw, he was a bit unsure of his name so I thought we could help him! There's a poll at the bottom of the page! Subscribe for more content!"

The video went black.

Out of slightly morbid curiosity, Izuku scrolled down and he eyed the options. Admittedly, there were quite a few good ones, but one stuck out to him.

"Kage?"

That was probably because of the whole shadows reference. It had a nice ring to it he had to admit. Maybe he could use it the next time he saved someone.

The next time? Where did—

"You voted for Kage too, Deku?" Kacchan's voice said as he appeared from nowhere, "Let's see if that woman's website allows changes. If _you_ thought it was good, then it's definitely bad!"

Clearly, Kacchan had gotten over his guilt at the scavenger hunt situation. There was a chorus of laughs that echoed Kacchan's statement and despite it all, Izuku felt a needle of frustration settle deep within him.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

* * *

OC Corner:

**Kenchiki Chaka (Crank) — Quirk: Detector. Can detect when a Quirk is being used. Cannot identify which Quirk it is.**

**Notes: A distorted depth perception and heterochromia is a side-effect of this Quirk.**

*/*

**Kinkin Fukumigoe (Gear) - Quirk: Muffle. He can contain the sounds made within a certain area. He can control the area of effect, intensity, but not the time limit.**

**Notes: It is very exhausting and novice users cannot move around when using it. A shrill voice is a particularly odd side effect of this Quirk.**

*/*

**Sumire Utsusu — Quirk: Video Camera. She can record anything her eyes see. The video can then be uploaded onto a hard drive made out of a special crystal that is attuned to the signals the recording process emits.**

**Notes: Sumire never has to blink — a very convenient side-effect thanks to her Quirk. Her eyes glow red when her Quirk is active.**

* * *

**Author Notes:**

**I'm having so much fun writing this story. Originally, this chapter would have probably ended with the Entrance Exam, but now I'm taking my time to flesh things out a bit more. Obviously, UA is where the party's at and all that, but I'm loving the preamble. Izuku hasn't encountered All Might in this fic, but he still has a teacher of sorts and he's a very dedicated student so I don't doubt given enough of a nudge, he'd still train his ass off. Even the vigilante thing was added in a bit later to my initial outline for this fic.**

**I usually take longer to bust these out (you can ask the readers of my others fics lol) but I'm just really vibing with this fic. Even the names of the OCs were carefully chosen through the use of the Japanese dictionary on my phone.**

**Maybe the names won't all make sense or will be unrealistic, but Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu makes names a _pretty_ low bar to clear lol.**

**I think I mentioned this earlier, but I only watched until the end of the anime and I _definitely_ didn't watch the movies. I may do that eventually, but honestly, I don wanna. There is like a 20ish per cent chance I do something with one of the movies so I wouldn't hold my breath. This fic will diverge from canon, but there will be a smattering of spoilers from across all 4 seasons.**

**There will be a few more OCs- some important; some not. That's unavoidable, I'm afraid.**

**Those of you on AO3 can see that the ship is now Izuku Midoriya/Undisclosed and also that it is F/M. I changed the tag in-between this update and the last. All that means is that Izuku's straight and you have to read to find out how that'll go. The romance definitely takes a backseat to the plot, though, which is why I feel like not tagging it isn't that important.**

* * *

**And that's about it really. A very big thank you to everyone who's been giving kudos, commenting, subscribing and all of that. I love seeing those numbers go up. It just gets me all excited to write.**

**Stay safe, it's been one hell of a year.**

**Don't do anything I would do and don't do anything I wouldn't do. There's a little grey area in there, that's where you operate.**


	4. "Next lady for a shave!"

**I think 4 chapters in 9 days is a record for me.**

* * *

The end of the school day could not have come sooner for Izuku. The talk of him, well actually the Takoba Beach Vigilante, dominated conversation not just in his class, but even in their school.

One of their teachers had even mentioned rewatching the fight multiple times since last night. In short, people liked the Takoba Beach Vigilante a lot.

Or as the poll had decided to name him, Kage.

The fervour and excitement weren't limited to just his school either. All-day long, tons of posts and videos spread throughout the Internet. Speculation of who Kage could be, what his Quirks were and even a few posts about how handsome he was.

Izuku hadn't even shown anyone his face!

Now that he was alone at home though, he could admit it to himself. He liked the attention. He really did. People were _happy_ that he had intervened and saved Sumire. They were amazed at the skills he had displayed the last night.

Izuku, inspiration of the masses. Well, technically it was Kage who was the inspiration.

Izuku wanted to inspire and protect and amaze others, the same way All Might had for decades. To get such a positive reaction, even if people didn't know it was Izuku behind the mask made him very happy.

It wasn't all sunshine and roses, though.

Izuku had gone down to Takoba Beach just to scout it out and apparently, quite a few people had had the same idea. They were people posing on top of the metal cabinet he had appeared on. Others crouched in front of the bullet-ridden car that his clone had stood in front of.

Izuku wasn't sure when it would end, but what it meant was that he definitely couldn't practice at Takoba anymore. If it became a popular hangout then it was inevitable that he would run into someone he knew.

The other problem was on the other end of the spectrum. Kage had a lot of new fans, but he also had a lot of haters. Izuku knew that animosity from some people was part and parcel of the game, but it was doubly so when you were a vigilante.

The few Pro Heroes from around Musutafu had strongly condemned Izuku's actions. The most prominent of these being Kamui Woods who was a shoo-in for a Top 10 spot with his current trajectory.

That condemnation from Pro Heroes was definitely enough to sway people to the other side. Many called for his arrest, called him a lawless vagrant and all sorts of stuff.

It hurt a bit more than Izuku was willing to admit.

He would not let it get him down, though.

Izuku would scour Musutafu for a new training spot until the beach cleared up again. He decided to use the rest of today to catch up and maybe go a bit ahead in his classwork.

Izuku felt that he had made it far enough with the Academy Three. The only one that he needed to use instinctively was the Substitution. The Clone and Transformation were great as is and in truth, there was not a lot more mileage he could get out of them.

Maybe he'd think of something later.

Instead, he would focus on working out the mechanics of Enhancement (before starting the Body Flicker) and trying to master the Substitution. It took a bit too long for him to use the latter so he had to shave the activation time down as much as possible as soon as possible.

Finally, Izuku would try to figure out how to conjure those metal rods again. He had been a bit rash in getting rid of them and he'd been unable to make them ever since.

The Scroll made no mention of object creation from pure chakra so he was well and truly stumped. It was just something he would have to figure out.

Izuku's computer let out a chime signifying an email. He went to his inbox and he freaked out as he who the email was from.

UA.

It took him ten minutes to open the email.

He didn't have to worry. It was just a confirmation of his application. His results were good enough to get into the testing phase despite his supposed lack of a Quirk.

It probably helped that the question about Quirks only came after the candidates for the exam had been chosen.

Izuku wasn't entirely sure what he was meant to say about his chakra.

He could not keep it a secret forever. Somehow, he'd slip up and the fallout would probably be immense. It wouldn't take much time to figure out that his chakra wasn't a Quirk and then from he would have to tell them the truth.

That a magical fruit from a magical tree gave him magical powers.

This was without mentioning the giant symbols that had appeared in the sky. The Scroll had mentioned something about using symbols to perform specialised tasks, but Izuku barely understood a lick of the mentioned theories.

It was obviously near the bottom of the scroll for a reason.

Turning back to the email, Izuku was about to send a confirmation when he saw that it wasn't necessary to reply. He tried to go back to his work and to his credit he was about 60% done when he had to put his pen down.

He was filled with a nervous energy that he needed to expel somehow. It was still far too early to go to Takoba Beach, but maybe there was somewhere else he could go.

Izuku remembered that there were a fair number of abandoned properties scattered across Musutafu. He needed to find one that was relatively private and had enough stuff lying around for him to practice on.

He found three locations that were spread rather far apart, but he wouldn't mind getting some exercise in. In fact, Izuku decided to pass by the gym as well— a prospect that he would have not taken on months ago.

Izuku could admit to himself that he did chase the feeling of satisfaction a good workout provided. His body still hurt after each and every session, but it was fine because he knew that it was for a good cause.

Plus, he could now sprint up the stairs to his flat without being out of breath anymore. That was a big deal as far as he was concerned. How had the original architects decide to just _not_ put in elevators? He lived on the seventh floor!

Maybe it was best if he didn't reopen old wounds.

Izuku changed into his exercise gear and hoodie. He packed a bag with a change of clothes as well as the Scroll. He was about to leave when he caught sight of the mask. Kage's mask— well sort of.

He had made sure that his Transformation had altered the decal and general design of the mask. If he hadn't, Izuku would probably be holed up in some juvenile holding centre by now or something.

Izuku decided to take it with him— just in case he needed it. Maybe some lady would need him to rescue a cat from a tree. He could climb trees with the best of them now after all. Or maybe he'd get another shot at saving someone from dangerous criminals.

What was the old saying? Better to have and not need and so on?

"Who am I kidding? I definitely want another run."

How hard could it be to help someone in need?

* * *

As it turned out, it was actually very hard to help someone out in need and that was for one reason and one reason only.

Heroes.

Pro Heroes were ridiculously good at finding and solving situations before Izuku could even get there let alone help.

To be fair, it was day time and that meant that crime wasn't exactly booming. The bigger factor was all the normal heroes as well as All Might on top of that.

Not even the craziest of villains would want to tempt fate and end up on the business end of a Texas Smash. Recently, there had been fewer sightings of All Might going out and about and yet he still quelled any disasters at an inhuman pace.

Izuku imagined it was actually scarier this way for the criminals. Before it had been relatively easy to earmark All Might's position and the criminals just had to operate as far away from that point as possible.

Now though? All Might could and did randomly appear out of nowhere. A derailing train in the north? All Might was there. He'd make sure everyone was alright before disappearing into thin air only to stop a hostage situation in south mere minutes later.

It was a masterstroke.

Unfortunately, All Might was just one man and stuff did slip through the cracks, but that was where the rest of the heroes came in. All Might probably handled 65% of the major incidents in a day as well as a sizeable chunk of the minor ones.

He also primarily worked in the daytime. All Might did have many successful night missions u see his belt, but his skill set lent itself to being more useful during the day.

More subtle approaches were needed at night. Heroes like Endeavor and All Might would draw a lot of unwanted attention at night. Plus, it probably kept everyone's morale up to see their beloved number one during the day.

It was with that in mind that Izuku decided to exercise at the gym until the sun went down. He had been beaten to an incident for the eleventh time that day. The worst part was that two of them had been cats stuck in trees!

He could have and would have done them a lot quicker than the Sidekicks that were assigned to them.

Izuku bit down his annoyance as he arrived at his gym. He tapped his card at the entry gate and the automatic door unlocked allowing him inside. Kendou Gym and Martial Arts was one of the very best in the Musutafu area— in his experience as well according to the rave reviews online.

It was enormous and had superb facilities, but the trainers were also extremely patient. He could only afford to here because of the interview money. His first day had been terribly awkward. Izuku still felt embarrassed at having to be taught how to use a ton of machines by a girl around his age.

He had all but burnt the memory out of his mind except for how to use the machines. The girl's incredulity at him not knowing how to use even some of the more basic machines still stayed with all these months later.

The gym was on the bottom floor and the dojo was on the floor above. Izuku had seen the girl walk about in a gi from afar so he figured she had to be one of the dojo's students.

Another good reason to not sign up for the dojo.

Izuku shook the vestiges of embarrassment away as he loaded up a machine. The familiar burn and strain were like an old friend. Izuku finished his repetitions before heading for the indoor running track.

Decathlon competitors (or decathletes) had a holistic approach to exercise. They could not be too bulky or they would not be able to jump as high. They could not be too skinny or they would be too weak for the strength-based events and so and so forth.

Izuku tried to mirror this as best he could do. There was some stuff he could not do even in this gym, but the trainers had been more than helpful in finding suitable alternatives.

The track was occupied by others as well. So, Izuku took a lane of his own as he went through sprinting drills. By the time Izuku finished those along with a few agility and flexibility focused exercises, it was already late evening.

Finally.

Izuku felt pretty tired, but he had long since adapted to working through fatigue. Izuku took a quick shower before changing into the spare clothes he had brought along.

His mask was at the very top, but for now, he wouldn't really need it. He was just looking for a new training spot after all. He knew of at least three abandoned properties around Musutafu thanks to the internet, but he hadn't checked them out before.

It was only about half-past seven so the streets were packed. It was also a Friday night so restaurants, shops, malls, bars and stadiums were jam-packed.

This worked to his favour and no one really bothered Izuku as he made his way to his first destination. It was an abandoned apartment building and Izuku did not quite remember the reason for it standing empty.

Something to do with noise complaints and air pollution from the factories.

He left the noises and lights of the leisure section of the city moving to a residential/industrial sector. There was far less activity here and so Izuku paid more attention to his surroundings. In the distance, he could hear the faint sound of music

It was unlikely that he was being followed, but a little caution could go a long way. After a few minutes of walking past empty buildings and factories, he realised that he was just being paranoid.

The music he had heard was only getting louder, but he ignored it for the time being. It was a Friday after all Izuku checked the street names as he went along marking them off before he finally arrived at his destination.

So this was where the music was coming from. Great.

"Danzou is that you? You're kinda early, man," a drunk man said holding a bottle in his hand his voice just a little slurred, "Are your drinks in the bag? That's smart! I'd never think an All White bag would have booze in it! You know I once met him? Mall Sight. He's _huge_ like at least this big and—"

Izuku chose not to correct the man's mistake.

The gates that surrounded the apartment were wide open and at least a hundred people were mingling in the parking lot. Music blared from large speakers that someone had set up and there had to have been at least forty cars. There were even a few fires that had been started in barrels.

"Is there a party like this every night?" Izuku asked the drunk man who had and rambling on the entire time.

Of course, he had to find a mumbling drunk. The mumbling was very irritating.

Izuku did not sense the irony in that thought at all. None whatsoever.

"Of course there is! Musutafu never sleeps!" the man slurred, "Come on, Hanzou! You are _always_ here! Don't tell me you're on that stuff again? You better share!"

"I'm not—" Izuku began but stopped.

He had to leave. Apparently, this was a popular partying spot which was the exact opposite of what Izuku needed. He turned the drunk guy back towards the party and he ignored the lingering smell of alcohol and other such stuff.

Outdoor parties were gross.

So, the apartment building was a bust. It wasn't all bad. The general area around it was still too populated and if it was used as a hangout at night then chances were it was also frequented during the day.

After all, there was no trash like at Takoba, to repel people away. That meant Izuku needed to find somewhere that wouldn't lend itself to daily parties.

Thankfully, he knew just the place.

* * *

"This is getting ridiculous."

The second property Izuku had scoped out had also turned out to be a bust. It sucked because it would have been perfect. It was a large secluded factory with high brick walls for added privacy.

There was leftover equipment that would have been perfect for testing jutsu on as well as vast amounts of space. Izuku had been ready to scale the wall when he saw the sign on display.

It was the badge of Kamui Woods' hero agency. If whoever owned the lot could afford to have Kamui Woods on a private retainer then it definitely wasn't a good idea for Izuku to entertain the idea of training there.

Especially with how testy Kamui Woods had been in the media as of late.

So as the clock struck 9, Izuku walked through the night to his final destination. It was a mall that was owned by a near-defunct real estate group. The mall and the blocks around it were also owned by that group.

Apparently, the last surviving scraps of the real estate group were holding onto these buildings like a lifeline. They were all currently boarded up and empty so Izuku could only assume they were holding out for a buyer.

Izuku was sure a buyer would come soon because the mall was within a stone's throw of UA. The prices for rent near UA were staggering, but it was well worth it because it was one of the safest places in all of Japan let alone Musutafu.

When Izuku came to the mall itself, he was admittedly impressed. It spread out far and wide across multiple blocks. All the doors and entryway were boarded up leaving no way in for the average person.

Izuku was not average.

He walked up the wall using his Surface Sticking. A few months ago, it had been murder on his core to walk up this way. The first time he had tried it, his upper half had fallen back to the ground. He had almost busted his head open on the ground.

Now though, thanks to his exercise, he was strong enough to walk up a wall as if it were the ground. He had to walk the way to the top floor because none of the windows could be opened from the outside.

When he made it, the frustration from the 's adventures

The top floor was a rooftop garden. The garden spanned the entirety of the mall's roof and it would not be an exaggeration to call it a park instead of a garden.

There were plenty of tables, chair, potplants and so on, but more importantly, there was open space. It would give him enough space to start practising using those rods he had made.

Well, that would only happen if he ever figured out how to make those rods again. As things were, Izuku was stumped. They had appeared in a crisis moment and he wasn't crazy enough to take a chance on it happening again.

He had rewatched the video of the fight multiple times over and he just did not get it. At the moment, it had felt like his body had acted on its own and surpassed his normal limitations.

It was like those stories of women being able to lift fallen cupboards or cars off of their children. What people were not told was that often these women damaged their bodies extensively in pulling off these feats.

The body had self-imposed limitations on how much effort one could exert. It was through intense exercise that someone broke through those limitations and pushed the bar further.

So, it was possible that Izuku's chakra acted similarly. Perhaps, for whatever reason, he could not recreate those rods. It could be a power issue, lack of control or anything else really.

Izuku was certain that he'd crack the code eventually. For now, though, he had done enough scouting. He would come back tomorrow so he could start working on the Enhancement technique.

As it was, Izuku had zero firepower. The rods would have been useful, but until he figured that out he had to find an alternative. He kicked a chair leg that had rolled near him out of frustration.

"Maybe I could use this," Izuku said not entirely joking.

It was getting pretty late and having a weapon, even if it was a chair leg, would be better than absolutely nothing. The sound of dogs barking in the distance made his mind up for him.

He picked up the chair leg and it was surprisingly sturdy. It would probably suck to be on the wrong side of it. Izuku picked up his bag and improvised weapon before going back over the edge.

He undercooked his chakra just enough to allow him to slide down to the ground. The streets were dark with the only light coming from intermittent street lamps.

To keep his mind busy, Izuku toyed with chair leg he'd taken along with him. He imagined himself beating away imaginary foes at every turn. If someone had seen him, he'd have looked crazy, but as it was he was all alone.

After about fifteen minutes, Izuku had made it back to proper civilisation. The night was still going strong for a lot of people. It was nothing new. Friday nights were often the liveliest of times along with Saturdays.

At this time of the night, there was no more public transport so Izuku had to walk bag on the busy main roads. The problem was there were even more people out now than there had been earlier in the evening.

His mother had sent him a few messages already which made him begin to get annoyed at the crowded walkways. There was a shortcut that went past the Kendou gym that would allow him to get home a few minutes quicker.

Izuku was certain that the gym and the other businesses on that route were probably closed. Normally, that would be a touch unsettling however with his mother bombarding his phone with messages, it was a godsend.

Izuku peeled off into the alleyways going further away from the hubbub of the crowds. He had abandoned his weapon when he had reached the main walkways and now he felt a bit foolish about the whole thing.

He was about to turn the corner into the street of the gym when he heard raised voices. The sound of shuffling drew his attention and Izuku slowed to a halt before peaking around the corner.

He nearly groaned when he saw a girl with orange hair surrounded by two men and one woman. The girl stood at the main entrance to the gym and there was a parked car nearby with its headlights off. There was a fourth person, a woman, sitting behind the steering wheel.

"We won't ask again, girlie," said the woman and the apparent leader, "We know you lock the gym up on Fridays and we know you guys keep some valuable stuff in there. We know all about your alarm system too. Just unlock the door and things won't have to get...messy."

Izuku heard enough.

He reached into his bag and he prepared a quick plan as his fingers closed on the cool ceramic of his mask. He would not have time to waste. He could not make the same mistakes as he had at Takoba.

His eyes scanned the alleyway for stuff he could use and a rough plan formed in his mind.

Time to be a hero.

* * *

Itsuka did not have the time to deal with this.

She'd gotten her confirmation from UA that very day and she had been so pumped she had trained extra hard. She could afford it. Tomorrow was the weekend and that meant she could train for even longer.

And yet, here she was getting robbed in front of her parent's gym.

Like hell.

Itsuka enlarged her fists as she dropped into a stance. One of the men took a small step to the front of the pack and the driver began to climb out of the car. Okay, four on one was not that bad.

"The camera's rolling. Let's do this thing already," Itsuka said as she began hopping from foot to foot, "I think I left my stove on so we need to speed things up."

She couldn't even cook. Not really. A little taunting never hurt anyone.

That was what her fists were for.

Despite the taunt, however, none of them moved an inch. Itsuka was nervous until the man at the front took another step forward.

"Look over here, Carrot Top."

Itsuka met his gaze on reflex and she felt her muscles lock as she stared into his eyes. They were a bright pink and she felt embarrassed at falling for his Quirk so easily.

"Thanks for that, Nirami," the leader said and as she walked forward her nails began to lengthen until they were ten-inch long spikes.

"We're gonna need you in the car, Kaihi," said the woman before turning to Itsuka, "You better pray to your gods. This is gonna get ugly if you don't unlock this store right now."

"Give me my bat, Kaihi," said the man closest to the car, "This girl looks tough. She may need some preparation."

"Anything else, masters?" Kaihi said before handing the bat to her partner, "I'm not your servant, Heikin. Keep your bat on you at all times."

Itsuka felt her worry grow as she saw Kaihi and Heikin chat back and forth. If they were so casual whilst in active crime scene then this definitely wasn't their first time stepping between the ropes.

The only saving grace was that the camera coupled with the street lights would capture their faces clearly. The lights were above them and it allowed her to see their facial expressions despite the time of the day.

It was also thanks to the light that she was able to see a large shadow form on the ground. The others noticed it too and Heikin was the one to spot where it came from.

"Up there on the roof! What the hell is he holding?"

Before any of the criminals could move, a large trash can sailed through the air and slammed on the windshield of the car. The result was a loud crunch as it shattered into pieces. The alarm of the car blared through the night air.

Someone would definitely have heard both the crash and the alarm.

The airbags in the car activated and Itsuka almost felt bad for Kaihi. The woman was not strapped in and so the airbag slammed into with full force putting her out of commission.

The lid of the trash can fell in-between Itsuka and the man keeping her paralysed. She was freed from her invisible bonds and she sidestepped the leader before delivering a thumping blow to the man's chest.

He flew through the air before slamming into the side of the car. Itsuka was vaguely aware of her saviour jumping off the roof, but she ignored that as she quickly disarmed the man and laid him out in short order.

She put a bit extra in the uppercut and the man fell like a bag of potatoes. Luckily for him, her Quirk had been deactivated so he'd just have a sore jaw for a few days.

"Who the hell are you?!"

She turned back to see the leader squaring off with Itsuka's apparent saviour. The hooded figure was roughly six feet tall and he nimbly dodged all the attacks.

The leader leapt forward with a slash of her claws, but the hooded figure was replaced by the trash can from before. The woman's claws bit into the crumpled trash can spilling trash into the street.

"Give me the bat!" shouted the hooded man and Itsuka froze as she saw the gleaming white mask with blue decal.

Before she could, though, the man jumped off the car and wrapped himself around a lamp post with just his leg. The leader had gone for broke in her failed attack and she had cut into the bonnet of the criminals' car with her claws. The criminal had been overeager and could not escape immediately.

"Now!" the urgency in the man's disembodied voice sparked Itsuka into action.

Itsuka ran to the bat before she threw it to the man. It was a rather wild throw but somehow he snatched it out the air with just a finger while still wrapped around the pole.

He slid down the pole by his leg with a casual grace. He reached the ground and rose with both hands holding onto the bat.

Cool.

The man used the bat with no technique whatsoever, but he didn't need to have technique. The leader seemed exhausted from chasing the man around and her claws had decreased in length by more than half.

She was tired.

The man sprung into action as he used the bat to slap aside a sluggish slash. He went down to his knees before using the bat to take out the woman's legs. The woman hit the ground hard and she tried to rise a foot on her chest stopped that.

The man pointed the bat the woman's face. A silent warning of what would happen if she did anything. The man turned to Itsuka his mask bathed in the light of the street lamp.

"Are you okay?"

Was she okay?

"Are _you_ okay? Your knees should be shot. You just jumped off a building!"

"That doesn't apply to me."

Mysterious.

"What's your name, young girl?" the man said as he pointed the bat at her.

Young girl? How old was this guy? He sounded like her grandpa, but he couldn't be that old judging by his build.

"Itsuka Kendo," she gave up freely, "What's your name? I mean your hero name."

"You can call me Kage."

It was a bit simple, but it definitely suited his aesthetic.

"Have you called for backup from other heroes? What agency has the mighty Kage working for them?" Itsuka asked and she frowned when she saw the man's body language warp from very confident to unsure.

"F-Funny story about that," the man's disembodied voice was still able to convey the awkwardness and embarrassment in his tone.

Itsuka had a feeling that it wasn't really all that funny. She was not nervous per se. The man had just saved her after all. However, he seemed rattled by her mentioning other heroes.

Naturally, she was suspicious.

"Oh really—"

"Lacquered Chain Prison!"

A spray of wooden tentacles suddenly flew at both Itsuka and Kage. Itsuka was caught, but Kage managed to escape by somehow swapping places with Heikin. She struggled against her bonds as Kamui Woods appeared on his from the shadows.

What the hell was this? It was so tight she couldn't even activate her Quirk.

"Let her go," Kage said to Kamui as he gestured to the criminal scattered on the ground, "She's just a kid. _These guys_ are your criminals."

The tentacles wrapped around Itsuka loosened immediately at those words. There were still deep and red marks on her skin and she rubbed at them as Kage spoke again.

"You usually work alone on your night patrols so you have no backup. If you're on your own then that means you have just two options," Kage said looking at Kamui.

"You could either chase after me and arrest me or you could arrest the four criminals who attacked an innocent girl outside her family's business. The choice is yours."

Itsuka watched as Kage ran off without waiting for a reply. A vigilante, huh? She wondered if all vigilantes were as cool as Kage...

"I'm a huge fan by the way!"

...and as dorky too

* * *

"This happened at your gym! I'm glad you left before getting mixed up in all of this."

He should have expected this. He really should have learnt from the last time and yet here he was having an internal breakdown in front of the TV. All of the news channels were speaking about the incident outside the Kendou gym.

Starlight News, the one he was watching now, had been constantly replaying footage of the fight since well before sunrise. The video was taken from a security cam and it always started right around the time Itsuka's hands got bigger.

It was an interesting Quirk. It seemed like a localised gigantification and it probably gave her one hell of a power boost. The punches she delivered looked devastating.

Then, for at least the seventh time that weekend, Izuku watched as he intervened and helped Itsuka. Around the time of his third rewatch, he had noticed how Itsuka seemed to have a fluid and learned fighting style.

Itsuka's skill only became more obvious the more he focused on her. She was strong enough to take care of herself even without having to use her Quirk. Did she learn all this from the dojo?

He recognised her as the girl who had shown him the ropes on his first day at the gym. The penny had only dropped for him after she told him her name. Images of her wearing a training gi and walking around the gym had formed in his mind.

All in all, Itsuka's skill was a great endorsement for the dojo. Most heroes had Support Items to help their fighting style. The powerhouses like All Might and Endeavor didn't really need any items, but Izuku had many notes about some of the more impressive items.

Itsuka on the other hand seemed to be rather advanced for her age. She did not need a Support Item or even her Quirk to be effective. She already knew martial arts and was confident enough in her own strength to take on four people at once.

He was pulled away from his thoughts as it got to the part of the video where Kamui got the drop on them. It had been rather fortunate that he had been able to avoid the wooden snares. Itsuka had been caught which was unfortunate, but he knew she'd be fine.

She wasn't the one breaking the law, after all. That bad been all him.

Izuku had used Substitution on one of the criminals and to his delight it had actually worked. Being able to use Substitution on other people could make for some great combos.

The thing was Izuku still had just about zero firepower.

He was untrained in hand to hand combat. Despite how easy it had looked on the video, avoiding the criminal's attacks had been very difficult. He was only able to go on the offensive when he had gotten the bat from Itsuka.

Furthermore, his ranged attacks currently consisted of throwing a full trashcan.

It looked cool in the video, but carrying that bin up the wall had been decided _un_ cool.

The solution was clear as day. He had to start learning elemental chakra control.

The Scroll had a lot of techniques for all five elements. It was a treasure trove of information. The scroll was obviously meant to be used by an entire clan and so Izuku knew that Hiruzen added so much stuff to cover as many bases as possible.

Izuku originally planned to only work on the Enhancement Technique which would hopefully lead to a quick segue into the Body Flicker. From there, he had planned to begin his elemental training.

However, he was once again keenly aware of his limitations. Itsuka could probably have handled at least three of those criminals from last night on her own.

Izuku had so much potential at his fingertips and he wasn't tapping into it because he was _scared._ His 'Quirk' was wildly different from any other that was on the record. If what his full capabilities spread around then Izuku could kiss his current life goodbye.

Much like the participants at the UA Sports festivals, once you stepped into the limelight, you were there to stay. Kamui, for example, had trapped everyone at the start of his obstacle race in his first year.

It was unsurprising that he had gotten a grant to start his agency right out the gate.

Izuku just had to be prepared to deal with the ramifications of his power. As a future hero, it was his duty to give it his all in everything he did. He couldn't choose to not learn something because he was scared of the blowback.

There would be no room for fear if he wanted to pass the UA exam and there was certainly no room for fear if he wanted to be the next Number One.

It was with that mantra in mind that Izuku realised his training schedule was about to get busier. The Entrance Exams were in six months. He had six months to make himself _worthy_ of a spot in UA.

There would be people like Kacchan and Itsuka all fighting for spots. He had no choice, but to catch up to them or he'd be left behind for good now.

"Breaking news here at Starlight News," said the news anchor a man who a fox head, "Our head reporter is outside Kendou Gym and Martial Arts. The site of an attempted robbery that was thwarted by the owner's daughter and The Takoba Beach Vigilante. What have you got for us, "

"What could they have now?" his mother said as the news cut to the outside of the gym, "This channel is a bit too chaotic for me, but they do have the most scoops."

Izuku hummed his agreement as the Starlight reporter began to speak. Izuku recognised him as the reporter who had interrogated Kamui Woods after Izuku's debut as Kage.

What was his name again?

"Hello, Japan. My name is Masukomi Sousa," said the man with practised ease, "We are outside the site of yet another incident involving the Takoba Beach Vigilante. As you would have seen, the man calling himself Kage rescued a young girl from four criminals with a long list of crimes to their name."

"The girl is inside, but more importantly we have personally confirmed that Kamui Woods is here too," Masukomi said before his tone became derisory, "The rising hero has been under fire for his failure to respond to the Takoba Beach Incident. Last night we had another incident that the Pros failed to find out about."

"I understand that our Pros cannot be everywhere and they do not know everything," Masukomi said a burst of passion in his voice, "That does not excuse what happened last night. Kage the Vigilante rescued young Itsuka Kendouand what was his reward? He got blindsided by a supposedly honourable hero."

"To make matters worse, Kamui caught Itsuka in the crossfire of his sneak attack," Izuku felt a general sense of unease at how the incident was being framed, "So not only did a brave civilian have to save Itsuka, but one of the people paid to protect this nation's citizens almost hurt an innocent girl."

"Kamui's agency is funded by government money. Money that comes from the people. With that in mind, there ought to be certain expectations," Masukomi said to the camera, "When an unlicensed and _unpaid_ hero is doing more to help than those on the payroll of the people then difficult questions need to be asked."

Masukomi was about to say more, but he switched gears as Kamui walked out of the gym. From what Izuku could see, the gym was open for business and that lifted his mood. He had been worried that it would stay closed for a few more days.

"Kamui, I'm here for Starlight News!" Masukomi said as he ran over to the Pro, "Last night, you failed to respond in time to save Itsuka and you also failed to capture the Takoba Beach Vigilante also known as Kage. Furthermore, there is footage showing you capturing young Itsuka after Kage had already subdued the villains."

Kamui seemed annoyed by Masukomi's words and Izuku understood how that must have felt.

"Your projected approval ratings have also understandably taken a large hit," Masukomi said with a false neutralisation, "How do you intend to regain the public's trust after two back-to-back failures like this?"

Kamui closed his eyes and was silent before opening them again. His stance was rigid and firm. His muscles coiled as if he were about to spring into action.

I misread the situation last night," Kamui said his tone just a touch strained, "In my haste to respond to the incident, I had mistaken Itsuka for one of the perpetrators due to the vigilante brandishing a weapon towards her. I came here to give my apologies to Itsuka's family."

Izuku felt a bout of guilt as he realised that an innocuous gesture by him resulted in a vexing situation for Kamui. It wasn't uncommon for reporters to grill heroes, but perhaps due to his own involvement, this felt very different.

"As for regaining the public's trust, I can do that," Kamui said looking away from Masukomi as he turned to the camera, "I pledge to put away the lawless vigilante known as Kage. It sets an awful precedent if we continue to allow him to do as he pleases. I hope I can restore your faith in me in due time."

"I think that's quite enough," his mother said as she reached for the remote, "I don't how Kamui stayed so calm despite that man badgering him.

Izuku's mother changed the channel to a soap opera. His mother enjoyed the show and he did too at times, but Izuku hadn't watched much of it recently. He had been too busy training for those simple pleasures.

Speaking of which.

"I'm going to the gym," Izuku said to his mom who seemed a bit hesitant to let him go.

"You came back home so late and now you're leaving early too," his mother said with some worry in her voice, "Are you taking care of yourself, Izuku? I've gotten calls from your teachers. You've been falling asleep in class. I don't want you to exhaust yourself."

"You know why I'm doing this mom," Izuku said rising from the couch, "My grades are still just as good as before. I _am_ tired, but I can't stop now. Not when I'm this close."

"I know, sweetie," his mother said sounding just a touch calmer, "You're a smart kid. I know you wouldn't do anything stupid and put yourself in direct danger."

The last sentence formed a ball of guilt in Izuku's gut.

"That's right, mom," Izuku said warmly giving no indication of how he felt on the inside.

"There's no need to worry."

* * *

"Okay," Izuku said to himself as he looked at the rooftop garden that spread far and wide in front of him, "You've read the theory. This should be fine."

Izuku held a stopwatch in his hand that he quickly set to zero. Once that was done, he looked at his bag fifty metres away. That was his target. He counted down from three before starting the watch and taking off in a sprint.

Izuku sprinted full tilt at the bag. His arms and legs working at full capacity to propel him forward. He stopped the watch as soon as he crossed the line. Izuku took a few moments to slow his breathing before looking at the time on the watch.

5,88 seconds. Give or take since he was timing himself. That wasn't too bad, but he just wanted to give himself a baseline figure. Izuku couldn't use his watch for the next one so he took his phone out his bag and switched to voice control.

He put it in his pocket where he knew it would be safe before forming a handseal with his hands. The Tiger handseal was typically used for both control and power. It almost always appeared in fire jutsu for that reason. Fire without power would not hurt the opponent and fire without control would hurt the user.

Izuku channelled his chakra across his body. Slowly, it spread to his muscles, bones and joints. He kept it tightly contained and he had to start over multiple times as his control slipped. After roughly two minutes, it felt as though his body had gained the strength of a hundred men.

"Stopwatch, begin!"

Izuku took off in a sprint and he was shocked at how fast he was moving. Unused to it all, Izuku slipped forward and fell to the floor. He rolled and rolled as the built-up chakra dissipated in an instant.

He finally slowed to a stop on his side. He laid on the ground basking in his failure before getting back up. The good news was that all he had was a few aches, no broken bones or torn muscles. The bad news was that he had lost his footing after three steps.

This jutsu was supposed to be usable over long distances.

"I'll get there," Izuku said and he took out his miraculously undamaged phone.

He had about eight hours of training time left. He'd devote three more hours to the Body Flicker and then he'd spend an hour on the starting exercises for each element.

The best way to find out his affinity would be via elimination. Logically, if he trained them all he would be able to find the one he was most inclined to. He could then hyperfocus on that and then choosing another element to train.

Simple.

* * *

**Eight Hours Later — Abandoned Mall Rooftop**

* * *

Izuku hurt.

His feet hurt. His hands hurt. His arms and legs hurt. His head hurt and his pride hurt. His body and mind was pretty much a conglomeration of pain. He wished he could say the day was productive, but he was in too much pain to lie to himself.

There was a lot that he had to fix.

He still took far too long to saturate his body with chakra and even then he couldn't hold it all the time. The most steps he had been able to take before falling to his doom was an _impressive_ six. Finally, he was pretty sure he had grass stuck in his hair despite spending five minutes to get rid of it all.

So, that was the Body Flicker.

The elemental control exercises were awful in their own special way. Izuku knew it would have been hard. Hiruzen had said as much too. However, Izuku had at least expected to find out what affinity he had.

That did not happen.

He only needed the one leaf for five hours. No matter what, the stupid leaf would not moisten, burn, wrinkle, turn to dust or split. There was a moment where he had thought he had gotten the leaf wet, but it had just been sweat.

So, that was how Izuku's day had gone. His demeanour must have been rather off-putting as he was given a rather wide berth as he walked through the streets of Musutafu.

It was either that or he smelled really bad. It was probably both if he was being honest.

Thankfully, his destination was not too far away and a few minutes later he arrived at Kendou Gym. It was very busy. It was 6 PM on a Saturday so seeing people at the gym was to be expected.

Unfortunately, the people here did not seem to be here for the gym. It was a similar scene to the one at Takoba Beach. People draping themselves on the lamp post that he had slid down. People posing with bats in mid-swing obviously mimicking him.

There was even someone with a plastic mask that had the decal from just last night on it. It seemed pretty damn good all things considered. How the hell did it get done so quickly.

"We should just leave, Bakugou," Izuku almost groaned as he heard the voice of one of his classmates, "They're not letting anyone without a membership card in. I'd sign up, but my parents would kill me Those things are _impossible_ to get out of."

Sure enough, just as Izuku reached the entrance, Kacchan and a few of his tagalongs from school were outside the gym. They hadn't noticed him and as Izuku took his access card out, he hoped it stayed the same way.

"That girl in there got to speak to that vigilante _and_ she fought alongside him," Izuku heard Kacchan say, "If she knows something about him then I want to know. He's different from all of these losers out here taking photos!"

A few people jeered Kacchan which obviously only made him angry.

"Shut up, you extras!"

Unsurprisingly, people went back to minding their own business.

"As I was saying," Kacchan said as if he hadn't just insulted an entire crowd of people, "If I work with this Kage guy or maybe even take him down, everyone will know my name. So, call your mom up and ask for her banking—"

"Is that Midoriya?"

Izuku froze with his card just inches away from the scanner. He turned to the side and met the surprised faces of his classmates and the completely befuddled face of Kacchan.

"Deku?" Kacchan said looking him up and down in confusion, "What are you doing here?"

"O-Oh hey, Kacchan," Izuku said and he floundered for a bit, "What are you doing here?"

"I asked you that first, Deku!"

"Oh, right! Well, uh—"

Instead of answering, Izuku scanned his card before going inside the gym. He slammed the door in Kacchan's face and so he had a prime view as Kacchan pressed his face against the door.

"I'll figure this out, Deku!"

The declaration was loud even through the glass doors. It attracted quite a few stares towards Kacchan and their classmates. Thankfully, Akuma pulled Kacchan away as they left. Kacchan kept his glare pinned on Izuku until he was dragged out of sight.

That was the perfect icing on the crap cake that was today.

Izuku nodded towards some of the regulars that he sometimes spotted, but he didn't go and put his stuff in his locker like he usually did.

Instead, he went up to the top floor. He'd never been up there before and he was amazed at what he saw. Punching bags, boxing rings, medals, trophies and there was even a sumo ring.

There were quite a few classes going on as well as people walking around or observing. That made it rather difficult to find who he was looking for.

*THUMP*

"Take that! Next lady for a shave! Come on! Who's next?!"

Until it suddenly became easy.

Izuku saw Itsuka standing in the middle of a boxing ring. She stood over a man twice her age and probably thrice her weight. The man laid on the floor and was trying to crawl away from the orange-haired monster.

Izuku walked over to the ring and thankfully there appeared to be no one up for a shave. Izuku stopped by the ring, but unfortunately, Itsuka seemed to take that as a challenge.

"You wanna go, short stuff? Let's go!"

"W-What? I just wanted to sign up for some lessons."

"Oh," her demeanour shifted almost immediately, "Sorry, I'm just feeling a bit antsy today...wait a second...I know you!"

She vaulted over the ropes before coming to a stop just inches away from him. Her skin was flushed from the boxing match, she'd just hand and her boxing gloves were still. Her eyes stared deeply into his own.

Wait. She had called him short stuff. They were the _exact_ same height.

That wasn't important. Did she somehow recognise him from last night? His Transformation had been up the entire—

"You're the guy who tried to use your arms on the leg press machine!" Itsuka said stifling a laugh behind her glove, "Oh man. That was great! I mean you could have died, but good thing you didn't. You said you wanted to sign up for lessons, right? What do you wanna do? Karate? Judo? Boxing?"

The gleam in her eye on the third one scared him off from even trying boxing.

Izuku just stared at Itsuka as he gradually grew more and more uncomfortable. Being this close to someone that was admittedly very pretty short-circuited his brain a bit.

He took a few steps back to regain his composure, "Uh, I was actually thinking about doing something with a weapon."

"A weapon?" she sounded surprised as she unstrapped her boxing gloves, "You strike me more as a fists kind of guy. What sort of weapon? No, wait, I've got a better plan."

She dropped her gloves to the floor where they landed with a loud thud. She must have sensed his surprise as she picked one up and pointed towards slits around the wrist and the top.

"They're weighted gloves," she pulled out a metal bar from around the wrist, "My dad said I need a handicap to make this more challenging for me. Anyways, follow me."

She took off in a random direction and Izuku sped up to catch up with her.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

They walked in silence until they reached a door neat the back end of the floor. He followed her inside and he was amazed at what lay inside. A bevy of weapons ran from the floor to the ceiling.

Staffs, nunchucks and even this weird length of fabric that was vaguely familiar. It was a bit overwhelming to see so many different types of weapons all at once.

"I forgot to ask," Itsuka said almost oblivious of his awe, "What's your name?"

"Izuku Midoriya," he replied and he held out his hand to her, "Nice to meet you. Well, meet you again actually. Or is it officially?"

"Relax, Midoriya," she said grasping his hand with a lot more force than was necessary, "I'm Itsuka Kendou, but you can call me Kendou."

"Right," Izuku said and thankfully his voice did not waver despite Itsuka trying to crush his hand. She finally let go and she nodded approvingly.

"Not bad, pick out a weapon."

They were the same age.

Izuku went from weapon to weapon weighing up the pros and cons of them all. The main reason he settled on learning a weapon-based style was fairly obvious. An average armed person held an advantage over someone unarmed of the same skill level.

In theory, this should give him an edge against his opponents.

"Why are you learning a style?" Kendou asked from somewhere behind him, "I see you working out downstairs all the time. Most of the trainers think you're crazy with how hard you work. There was some talk about an Olympian training program."

"Is there a reason you're working so hard? Something tells me you aren't doing all of this just to get in shape."

"I want to be a hero," Izuku said as he stopped his inspection of the weapons, "The best hero that the world's ever seen— even better than All Might. Protecting those in need and inspiring people for a better tomorrow."

The room was quiet and Izuku took a few breaths before adding, "To do all that, I need to play catch up. I wasn't as serious about this until recently so I need to work extra hard if I want to get into UA."

Izuku eyed the weapons a little to the left and he smiled as he looked at them. Those were perfect. He took them off the rack and turned to Kendou who was surprisingly quiet.

"That's quite the motivation you've got there," her tone was a lot more subdued probably because the adrenaline from her boxing match was gone now.

"Are those what you're going to use?" Kendou said before he could reply, "Any particular reason why?"

Izuku looked at the two escrima sticks in his hands. They were almost the exact same length as the metal rods he had conjured at Takoba Beach give or take an inch.

"I think the future version of myself will be very happy if I learn how to use these."

That sounded a lot cooler in his head.

"Okay," Kendou said dragging out the word, " _Anyways_ , let's get you fitted for a gi and we can start today free of charge."

"You know how to use these?" Izuku said before his mind caught up to the rest of what Kendou had said, "Wait? For free? Are you serious? Why?"

"You seem like a nice guy," Kendou said and he felt his cheeks warm up at the quick answer, "Plus, it wouldn't be very nice of me to charge a future classmate at UA."

Wait—

"You're applying to UA too?" Izuku's exclamation was a bit shrill causing him to flinch.

"Yep," Kendou said cracking her knuckles, "I'll make sure we're _both_ up to scratch by the Entrance Exam! Aren't I great?"

Izuku should have been ecstatic. Well, he was, but that wasn't the only thing he felt. The eagerness Kendou was displaying at the prospect of training him was as infectious as it was off-putting.

He recalled her standing over a mountain of a man just a few minutes ago. With that image came a cold realisation.

 _He_ was the next lady for a shave.

* * *

**Author Notes:**

**And that's number four.**

**Kendou strikes me as being uber-competitive when it comes to sports for the most part.**

**As you now know, Izuku's first teacher in this fic is _not_ All Might. I have plans for that, but that's for later.**

**I know there are a few people who want Izuku to have a Rinne-Sharingan and a giant green Susanoo with rabbit ears and all that. Instead, he's struggling with the Body Flicker. Pacing is key, guys. Plus, the struggle to reach the top is one of the core themes of both My Hero Academia and Naruto so it at least fits the bill lol.**

**I just want to thank all of you who have commented, subscribed and bookmarked this story. The response to this story has been great. It's really great that so many people are interested in the story. It makes writing all these chapters a lot easier knowing so many people enjoy them.**

**You know by now, that I love hearing from you guys so don't be afraid to speak up. You can also PM me on FFN if you have a question you want to ask privately.**

**Until the next one.**


	5. "Kill away."

**I almost didn't get this one out today, but here we are.**

* * *

Kagami was so screwed.

He had been running for so long now.

He ran and ran and ran. The rain pouring from the night sky made it hard to keep his balance and, unfortunately for him, the rain also drowned out all of his pleas for help. His bare feet cut through puddles of water as he ran right through them.

The rain, however, did not drown out the drone of motorcycles in the distance. He could hear them circling the empty streets as they hunted him down. Kagami's grip on his backpack tightened instinctively.

He had to get away. The guys after him wanted what he had. Finding a Pro would mean going to prison, but he'd at least live.

Well, at least until the guys chasing him got to him on the inside.

The buildings around him were all dark and the roads were empty. His heart sank as he realised that the buildings were all abandoned. Still though, maybe he could find one to hide in.

He turned on a dime to go into another street, but he had to reverse course as he saw red. The red cloak of one of his pursuers glowed underneath the dim light of the streetlamps above. The matte black of the man's motorcycle seemed to suck in all light.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be, Kagami!"

Kagami activated his Quirk and he was able to outrun his assailant. His legs triple in size He only had just about one minute left before he'd be all out of juice. His daily limit was about to hit zero and then he'd be a sitting duck.

Thankfully, the others hadn't found him just yet. He slowed to a stop as he turned another corner. He was a lot faster than their motorcycles but they just kept finding him.

It was scary. He took multiple turns, he kept to the darker streets and he even knocked over trashcans as decoys. They still found him every time.

The worst part was they were teasing him. The second they found him, they'd let him activate his Quirk and run away. As if they knew that no matter what he did or where he ran, he could not and would not escape what was coming.

Kagami was starting to feel that way too.

He had never had this problem before. When he had done errands for his bosses none of the Pros assigned to him could get even a whiff of him. His devices were all untraceable and few people ever saw his face.

Furthermore, with the rain, it had to be near impossible to sniff him out in an open field let alone this maze of abandoned property. How were they doing it?

He stopped near the alcove of a nearby building. He tried with all his might to bust down the door, but it didn't work. He could try to go bust the windows open, but that would only expose where he was.

This was it, wasn't it?

"Come on, Kagami," he said to himself leaning his head against the stubborn door, "There had to be somewhere he could go."

Kagami looked up in inspiration and right as lightning streaked across the sky, he got a glimpse of someone in the skies. He couldn't discern much, but the brief glimpse was like a warning signal all on its own.

They were tracking him from above.

He had to go somewhere where they couldn't see him. The apartments were all a bust. He had a feeling that all of them were equally inaccessible. There couldn't just be apartments around here though, right?

Maybe there was something else. Like a parking structure or an abandoned factory or something. He heard the sounds of motorcycles gradually get louder even through the rain. He scanned for _anywhere_ to run to and he almost cried in relief as he saw an enormous structure through the gaps between the buildings.

If he could get inside there then he could definitely lose his pursuers.

Kagami exploded out of the alcove as he made way for the mall. His legs were burning with exhaustion and fatigue. This was definitely his last shot. That was beside the point, though.

He had to make it or it was all over.

The structure which he recognised as an abandoned mall was now just a few seconds away. The blare of motorcycles became ever louder as they closed in on him — evidently, they were tired of this cat-and-mouse game.

Kagami didn't look back even as the street became awash with light from the motorcycles. There were about four of them. Five if he counted the person directing traffic from the air.

As he saw the glass panoramic windows of the mall up ahead, he gritted his teeth in preparation.

This was going to _suck_.

Kagami sped up to his limit and ignored the screeching pain in his legs. He pumped with perfect form despite the situation. His sprinting form having been perfected long ago.

When he was about twenty metres away from the mall, he jumped.

A deluge of water was kicked up as he used the remnants of his energy to propel up and into the air. As he heard the motorcycles behind him brake harshly, he swung his foot from behind him at the glass window. It was just one single kick standing between him and freedom.

Time seemed to slow down for him as he neared his escape. The decisions and circumstances leading to his current predicament flashed through his mind.

He never used his quirk to attack others. He wasn't that bad of a person.

He had even wanted to be a hero when he was young. The increased power in his leg muscles wasn't as good as that Ingenium guy. He ran out of juice the more he ran and the more he ran the longer it took to fill back up.

Needless to say, that dream didn't take off.

If he had had the same genetic adaptations as the Iida, then maybe he could have made it a Pro. Perhaps he could have worked alongside Ingenium too. A two-for-one deal or something.

Of course, life had other plans for him and instead of being a famous and adored hero, he became a courier for some...shady people. He was good at it too, one of the best in fact.

He just got a little greedy, sometimes.

The window was right in front of Kagami's face and he could see his own reflection as he was about to plough through the window. He tensed in anticipation expecting to hear the sound of shattering glass.

Instead, he saw a flash of red before something ploughed into him from the side. He flipped through the air before landing in a heap on the ground. He heard a few snaps and cracks as he rolled on the wet concrete.

His body rolled to a stop right next to the wall of the mall he had almost broken into. He tried to scramble to his feet, but a lance of pain shot up his right ankle as soon as he put pressure on it.

A guttural groan escaped from his mouth as he fell onto his ass. He leaned back against the wall and through the fog of pain he became vaguely aware of the motorcycle gang stopping right in front of him.

They had left their headlights on and so he couldn't discern the features of the five people in front of him. They were probably just the cleaners for the Red Jackets. An unimaginative name, but that didn't matter.

They were dangerous.

No ordinary criminal group could survive these days after all.

"You did well, Kagami," the leader said and Kagami could see some avian features on the man's face, " If I didn't have my Owl Quirk, you probably could have gotten away. Still, though, you entertained my men for quite some time. Usually, our targets don't have the gumption you do."

"Then again, perhaps you weren't brave," the Owl said, "It is rather unwise to steal from us. It's impressive you managed to lug that thing around, but you didn't think you could actually get away with this? Did you? Oh my God, you did!"

Kagami could do nothing but stare at the man. His body hurt far too much for him to do anything else. The raindrops pouring on him were like icy needles biting at him and keeping him awake. The deafening deluge had now faded to just a light drizzle.

It was over. He wouldn't beg or grovel for his life. That wasn't his style.

He'd face his death with dignity.

That would make one admirable thing he'd done in his life.

"Alright, give me the bag and then we'll make this quick," the leader said and Kagami frowned as he saw the four men behind holding rifles.

Kagami didn't move.

"If you want the bag then you're gonna have to pry it from my cold, dead—"

Kagami's speech was cut short as a sixth shadow was cast onto the wall. He was the first to notice and judging by the surprise of all the Red Jackets this definitely wasn't in the script for tonight.

"Don't you dare shoot until my say-so, " Owl said as they all turned their backs on Kagami, "The rain is starting to clear up. Once it clears up in the town proper, we need to be gone."

Through the gaps of the Jackets' formation, he could see a man shrouded in a black cloak. The Jackets all took up position aiming their guns at him. Kagami felt like screaming at the new arrival to get out of the way.

"Identify yourself," Owl said firmly, "Or face the consequences."

"You're just going to kill me anyway," a familiar disembodied voice said and in his daze, Kagami could not place where he had the voice.

"Fukurou, be careful!" said one of the gunmen, "He's that masked guy. I've seen stuff on the internet. Everyone's calling him Kage!"

Fukurou made an odd noise in his throat as he looked at Kage, "You're the one in the news for all those night time rescues. You haven't been seen on camera since that gym incident three months ago and yet there are plenty rumours of what your Quirk is."

"Shadow control, super speed, flying, astral projection, the list goes on," Fukurou said seemingly unfazed, "I'm not scared of you. Your legend has been overblown by cowards living vicariously through you."

Through the harsh light of the motorcycle headlamps, Kagami could see Kage's hands clasp each other. His long sleeves made it so that his hands weren't visible. Fukurou either did not care or did not notice.

"I believe in what I see and what I see is one man surrounded by four men with rifles," Fukurou said raising his hand, "You can join us or—"

Kage interrupted Fukurou, "I'd never work with a group of lowlife scum like you!"

Fukurou exhaled.

"Kill away."

There was a loud whoosh before the loud staccato of gunfire filled the air. Kagami's ears practically burst from the explosion in volume. Kagami barely had a second to scream in horror before a white mask appeared above him.

He was dragged upwards at speeds that far, exceeded what he was capable of at his best. By the time they slowed down, he realised that he was on top of the mall. A hand covered his mouth

"Quiet, you're safe," Kage said his eerie voice making Kagami sweat despite the drizzling of rain, "I will handle as many of them as I can. Now tell me. How important is this bag?"

Kagami watched as the Jackets stared at the spot Kage had been standing. In their haste to hurt Kage, they had damaged their own motorcycles and probably attracted a ton of Pro Heroes. Amazingly, there was no explosion just the motorcycles enveloped in flames.

"It has a lot of stolen stuff from them," Kagami said truthfully before his tone switched to a confused one as Kage picked up the bag, "Wait, what are you—"

The man twirled rapidly before letting the bag fly with a grunt of exertion. The bag sailed through the air at a rapid speed and out the corner of his eye, Kagami saw Kage move his hands.

The bag slammed into the back of one of the gunmen and a second later, Kagami heard something land beside him. His eyes widened as he saw his bag next to him.

What the hell?

He flicked his eyes back to Kage who was now standing atop the downed gunman. Kage got off the incapacitated man before _disappearing_. A sharp scream of pain drew his attention and he turned to see Kage a full fifty metres away with another gunman on his back.

The gunman was thrown down to the ground in a hard slam. The gunman had long flowing hair that tried to snare Kage, but just before they wrapped around the vigilante he was replaced by another one of the gunmen.

The hair controller was unaware of the switch and he slammed his own comrade into the gravel with a sickening thump. There were only two now and Fukurou seemed to be far from the poised disposition he had had earlier.

Kage stood where a gunman had just been. He seemed to slip due to the rain, but that didn't really take away from how untouchable he seemed.

"Fukurou, we need to leave," said the last henchman, "The rumours were true! Not even Pros can catch this guy! Plus we already fired those gunshots. We have no chance!"

"We can still esca—" Fukurou said he turned in a random direction, "You were right, Kekkaron."

"Stop right there, gentlemen," a woman in skin-tight clothing said her tone alluring and warm, "I was having such a _good_ time with a _friend_ of mine and you had to ruin that. You'll pay for that."

Kagami was about to speak when something wrapped around his mouth.

"Don't."

Kagami did not. At least for now, he was relieved that Pros were on the scene. He'd worry about potentially getting killed in prison later.

* * *

In a second, everything had gone to hell.

Izuku was screwed. Terribly screwed.

Midnight was here. One of the teachers at UA. He'd expected the nearest hero agency would have responded to the call, not the UA staff!

He should have known, though. The mall was close to UA. The gunshots would have drawn their attention and they had probably alerted other agencies as well.

"Who do we have here?" Midnight said as she looked him up and down, "Not bad. Although...I prefer black clothes to be made of leather really. It's more...appealing..."

Despite the situation, Izuku felt his face heat up underneath his mask. Whether it was all an act or not, Midnight had a way of getting underneath people's skin.

It was so effective it almost distracted him from the ropes flying through the air.

He used the Body Flicker to move to the top of the lowest building nearby. The ropes struck where he had been standing with quite some force. He strongly fought back against the urge to puke. He could pull it off, but the drawbacks were still there.

No wonder it was usually just for travel.

Wait, he was in the middle of a battle

Izuku looked down to the ground and he nearly fainted as he saw all the gang members enveloped in Midnight's pink mist. Well, that was that. They wouldn't be up for a while.

"What the hell Aizawa?!" Midnight said and he followed her gaze to a man standing atop the mall rooftop, "I took out five of these guys and you missed your target? Maybe Hizashi has a point about you being lazy."

The man sighed heavily.

"Two of the five you took out were already incapacitated."

The man had shaggy, black hair and he was wrapped in a long, white scarf. After three months of training with Itsuka, he could recognise it as a battle scarf.

Not many people used those.

However, the feature that stuck out the most to Izuku was the bright yellow goggles that the man currently wore.

Black hair? Check. Battle scarf? Check. Bright yellow goggles? Check and check.

As if Midnight wasn't bad enough, things just got immeasurably worse. Midnight and—

"—And call me Eraserhead," the man drawled his gaze pinned on Izuku, "We're on duty now. This man is not like the others."

How had a UA teacher managed to get one of the most enigmatic heroes to work alongside her? Or maybe Eraserhead worked at UA? The more he thought about it the more he realised that it made the most sense.

These people could be his future teachers. They might even have seen his name in the applicant's list or something. This was very bad.

If they figured out who he was...

Izuku began to knead chakra desperately. This would probably be the longest Body Flicker he had done without handseals. If Eraserhead activated his Quirk then Izuku was in deep trouble.

That's what you got when you dealt with deactivation Quirks.

"Now," Eraserhead said as he adjusted his grip on his battle scarf, "How hard are you going to make this, vigilante?"

Izuku didn't bother to answer as he disappeared in a Body Flicker. He could hear Midnight's squawk of surprise as he came to a stop three hundred metres away.

The good news was that he'd probably only be pursued by Eraserhead because they would not leave criminals unattended and Midnight's Quirk was perfect to keep them subdued.

The bad news was because they would not leave criminals alone and Midnight's Quirk was perfect to keep them subdued, he'd probably be pursued by Eraserhead.

From the little he'd seen of the man, Eraserhead could and probably would not relent until he got Izuku. His combat prowess was astonishing for someone with a supplementary Quirk. Izuku could not beat him as he was.

He had to go.

Izuku tried to run away, but his stomach groaned in protest. He had to swallow down the bile in his mouth. His body also tingled from the long-range Body Flicker. Without a handseal, the Body Flicker had been a lot more uncontrolled and the backlash was far more apparent.

Izuku took off running through the side roads and alleyways making sure to stick to the darker roads. If Eraserhead saw him then he'd be able to catch Izuku. He had no idea of how the deactivation Quirk even worked, let alone how to counter it.

All he knew was that he had to run.

He had been doing just that for a few minutes when he finally relaxed. Perhaps, Eraserhead had chosen not to pursue him and was with Midnight rounding up all the—

As he turned into an alley, a white strap dropped into Izuku's vision. He used Body Flicker again to escape and he turned back to see Eraserhead standing on a windowsill. He stumbled a bit as a strong bout of sickness came over him.

He'd been confronted by Kamui and now it was Eraserhead.

"Why always me?" Izuku muttered too low for Eraserhead to hear.

"Interesting," Eraserhead said and yet his tone was entirely dispassionate, "You have breathtaking speed, but it takes a lot out of you. Why else would you choose to run through these side streets and alleys?"

"You also stumbled just now," Eraserhead said as he dropped to the ground, "It makes you sick, doesn't it? That much energy has to go somewhere. If you rush it then it blows back on you."

Admittedly, Izuku trawled the internet to see what people were saying about him. There were some claims that were somewhat close to the truth and others extremely off the mark.

Eraserhead had gotten one of his best tricks after seeing it for the first time.

Izuku raised his hands to prepare another Body Flicker, but he had to scramble out of the way of the battle scarf. He just about managed to do that when it doubled back and caught him by the wrist.

He used his chakra to stick to the floor and squatted down to disguise it. Eraserhead seemed to realise was futile to try and reel him in and so he charged.

Izuku panicked as he saw Eraserhead's hair spike up. A brilliant red gleam emanated from behind the man's goggles. That had to be his Deactivation Quirk.

Izuku spied a pipe on the ground and he almost cried in relief when he spotted it. He picked it up just in time to block a kick from Eraserhead. He used his other hand to reel the Pro in. Izuku tried a horizontal strike to the side holding the scarf, but it got deflected by the man's palm.

Izuku jumped off the ground with a rising knee, but it was blocked before Eraserhead kicked him in the face. He felt the force of it through his mask. Izuku rotated with the blow and he connected with a glancing strike to Eraserhead's ribs.

This seemed to annoy the hero. No sooner than a second after the pipe had made contact, a still airborne Izuku was kneed in the face. Eraserhead then spun before using his scarf to thrown Izuku towards a wall.

He slammed into it with a loud thump his pipe flying free from his hand. Izuku was thankful for the Konoha mask he had on. He would have been in a lot worse shape if he didn't have it on.

As he laid on the floor, Izuku had to squash the blooming sense of fear he was feeling. It wasn't over until it was over.

"7 carjackings, 6 burglaries, 11 robberies and 2 serious assaults all stopped within 3 months of each other."

Izuku turned to Eraserhead to see his hair had dropped down and the man had a tight grip on the scarf tied to Izuku's wrist. Izuku tried to tug himself free from the scarf but it wasn't working. It so tight it was practically imprinting on his bones.

"It's pretty good for someone who's not professionally trained or at least not fully," Eraserhead and he tugged on the rope making Izuku fall onto his face, "Now, let's see who this vigilante really is."

Izuku tugged on the scarf again to no only he had a knife to—

Wait...of course!

A burst of wind erupted from his hand in a flare of blue and white chakra. In an instant, Eraserhead reactivated his Quirk and Izuku was resigned to his fate until he realised that the wind chakra was still pouring from his hand.

It was rough and unrefined as evidence by the jagged cuts forming on Eraserhead's battlescarf. The important takeaway was that he had managed to use his chakra!

Eraser's Quirk didn't work on him!

Belatedly, he realised his Transformation was still active. Even someone as nonchalant as Eraserhead would have reacted if Kage suddenly shrank in size by half a foot.

Man, Izuku wouldn't forgive himself for being so ignorant.

Izuku almost sighed in relief as the battle scarf was cut in half around his wrist. He heard Eraserhead mutter something under his breath as for the first time that night, Eraserhead displayed an emotion other than apathy as he spoke.

"That's clearly an Emitter Quirk," he said with surprise and a tinge of confusion, "It has to be able to cut through my scarf that quickly _and_ you already showed me your super speed."

Izuku allowed the sleeves of his cloak to overlap shielding his hands from view. He made a handseal underneath the sleeves as Eraserhead continued to speak.

"I've read the reports on you, Kage. Some reliable and others less so, but you have still done a lot of good these past few months."

He needed to build chakra for a bit longer to make this in one shot. He'd probably feel it tomorrow in the morning too

"However, from what I've seen and read, you should not exist," In the distance, Izuku could hear the whirring of police sirens, "It's impossible for someone to have more than two Quirks and if even a tenth of those reports are to be believed you have a lot more than just two."

Ten seconds.

"What are you?"

Five seconds.

"I'm a hero."

Just as he finished building enough chakra, Izuku heard the screech of tyres on asphalt. Eraser must have notified the police of their location at some point during the fight.

It didn't matter, though because he was ready.

"Good luck for the—"

"Academic year" was said to the air as Izuku sped off in a blur. His muscles, joints and bones were saturated with chakra as Izuku sped down empty alleyways and roads. The rain would have kept people indoors and so traffic was not an issue especially at 11 PM on a Tuesday.

Izuku slowed to a stop in an alleyway behind his apartment. He put his mask in his bag before his stomach let out a powerful lurch. There was a nearby dumpster and Izuku threw it open before he painted it with all of the meals he had had today.

A few minutes later, Izuku was getting the occasional dry heave as he trudged up to the top floor. He used his key to open the door and he felt bittersweet at seeing his mom asleep on the couch.

He locked up the house and turned off the TV before covering his mother in a blanket. He threw his bag to the side and without even taking his shoes off, he collapsed onto his bed.

The last thing he saw was the jagged cuts littered across his hand.

What. A. Day.

* * *

"Mom!"

Inko twitched awake as she heard Izuku's voice calling her. She realised with some surprise that she was on the couch under a blanket. He must have covered her when he came back last night.

Inko was constantly worried that Izuku was pushing himself too far, but she knew that this what he wanted. If she stopped him, she could probably never forgive herself and she wasn't even sure she _could_ stop Izuku.

All she could do was try to be supportive.

She rose from the couch and went to where she had heard Izuku's voice. It had sounded like her bedroom of all places. She walked in to see Izuku sitting in front of hee vanity desk.

"Hey, mom," Izuku said with a little caution, "You use makeup, right?"

"I do."

Not everyone was born with glycerine sweat, after all.

"Okay, that's great," Izuku said turning around and she gasped as she saw the bruises on his face, "I kinda need your help."

"Izuku! What happened to your face?"

"I-It happened at the dojo. It was Kendou's fault, all of it! She'll tell you that herself, if, uhm, I mean, _when_ you meet her! She's awesome but way too competitive and—"

At her age, shocks like this in the morning had to be terrible for her heart. Inko was tempted to let him go to school like this for scaring her this early in the morning.

"She just rides me really hard in practice! I swear you'll like her though. She's~"

As her son continued to ramble, the one thing she wished she didn't pass on, she noticed his hand was bandaged up as well.

"What happened to your hand?"

"U-Uh...Kendou?"

* * *

"Your face looks different."

Izuku froze as he met Kacchan's fierce red gaze. It was the end of the school day and for the most part, it had been alright.

He had gotten a few stares from the other girls and some boys which he could either attribute to the usual nonsense or the fact that he was wearing makeup.

He wasn't sure which one he wanted it to be.

"Don't space out on me, Deku!" Kacchan said as he slammed his hands onto Izuku's desk, "You're up to something. Always at the gym, getting bigger and now you show up with a bandaged hand. What are you—what the hell is this?"

Izuku had been packing his bag and so its contents laid bare to Kacchan's eyes. He had been planning to go to the gym and then to train at the mall so he'd packed his scroll and Kage mask with him.

Both of which, Kacchan was now looking at.

Maybe he did get some damage to the head from last night, after all.

"C-Come on, Kacchan," Izuku pleaded with the other boy, "I need to leave soon or I'll be late."

"A mask?" Kacchan said as he looked at it underneath the afternoon sun, "I've seen this before. This is that vigilante guy's mask, right? Why the hell would a loser like you have something like this?"

Izuku tried to speak, but he was frozen with fear. He could help stop carjackings, face off against a renowned hero in Eraserhead and yet he couldn't help but freeze up against Kacchan.

"This doesn't even look like decent quality," Kacchan said throwing the mask over his head, "What else is in there? A scroll? Let's—"

In a move that surprised the both of them, Izuku snatched the scroll right out of Kacchan's hands. In the past, he moved way too slowly to even dream of pulling that off.

"No."

The word was said softly, but with more fire than Izuku usually displayed. Kacchan's eyes were blown wide open before they narrowed sharply. He turned and walked away, but not before kicking Izuku's mask clear across the room.

"I'll figure out what you're up to, Deku," Kacchan said punctuating his statement with a mini-explosion in his hand, "And trust me, I'll enjoy destroying whatever it is."

They were the last two in the class and as Kacchan slammed the door behind him, Izuku was left alone. He sighed before walking across the room and picking up the mask.

Not even a scratch.

He packed his bags and with a rather heavy mind, he left for Kendou's Gym. Izuku was replaying the incident with Bakugou in his mind and perhaps that was why he didn't see the boy in question track his exit from the school.

* * *

"Eat this!"

Izuku planted himself as Kendou's punch closed in on him. He swatted the punch aside with his left stick before jabbing the other one forward. Kendou grabbed onto the stick and tried to pull Izuku in.

He had foreseen this, though and he channelled chakra to his feet to keep him in place. The second Kendou stopped pulling on the stick he jumped forward with a rising knee.

She blocked it, but she grunted from the effort. He lowered his knee and he trapped one of Kendou's arms behind him when she was too slow to react. He delivered a flurry of strikes across her side, arms and legs.

She groaned in pain but fought past it as one of her hands grew in size. Izuku then had his world turn upside down as Kendou somehow reversed their position into a throw. Her activating her Quirk had been a decoy.

Izuku slammed into the ground and all the air promptly left his lungs. The sticks he had been holding were sent sprawling across the floor. Kendou had picked up one of his escrima sticks, however, and she straddled him from the side before pointing the stick at his face.

"Give up."

Izuku tried to swing his foot up to get Kendou off of him. The kick slammed into her face and he tried to pin her down when she enlarged her fist and gave him a palm strike.

His body slammed into the mats harshly and this time she straddled him more securely before raising a fist behind her. It grew in size and Izuku felt nervous as his whole head was cast in shadows by her fist.

"Okay, fine," Izuku said with only some irritation, "I give up."

Kendou did not move as she peered at his face.

It had taken him only a few days of getting slammed and beaten and punched to get over any hang-ups he had about physical contact. It was fine whenever they were in a spar because he was too intent on trying to not get clobbered.

It was less fine when those spars ended.

Kendou's hand shrunk to its normal size and still, she didn't budge. Her gaze was so focused it put Izuku on edge. He tensed up as she rubbed her thumb over his cheek and traced upwards. What in the world?

"Are you wearing makeup?"

Ah, that explained it.

"Y-You couldn't have asked that like a normal person?!" Izuku said and it was only then that a sheepish Kendou moved off of him.

"Sorry about that," Kendou said as she offered him a hand, "It's just been bothering me the whole afternoon."

"It's alright," Izuku said as he accepted the hand and rose to his feet, "Do you wanna go one more time?"

"Look I'd love to, but I'm starving," Kendou said as she wiped the sweat from her face, "We've been at this for hours. Aren't you tired?"

He was definitely feeling the burn, but he could go again. It was probably a fringe benefit of chakra. He'd barely use any at all today. Outside of using it to keep his balance or grip on his weapons.

"I mean we could still spar for another hour?"

"No!" Kendou said as she rose to her feet, "You just want to beat me down when I'm tired so you can boost your wins. Not happening!"

"W-What?" Izuku said and he cursed internally as Kendou cottoned onto his plan, "I'd never do that to you. What kind of a friend do you think I am?"

"You just whipped me with a wooden stick for three hours," Kendou pointed out and he flushed as he saw the red marks across her arms and legs.

"Sorry—"

"It's fine," Kendou said placing her hands on his shoulders, "Fighting you would get boring if you didn't get some hits in. Now, hit the showers. We're getting some food."

Huh, that was different. Izuku and Kendou hardly ever went out together. She usually had private training sessions and he went to the mall to practice using his chakra.

"You don't have a lesson today?" Izuku asked drawing a shake of the head from Kendou.

"No, my dad had to go somewhere, " Kendou said before her gaze sharpened, "Are you just looking for a way out? I know we don't hang out much, but after all this time I thought you wouldn't mind being around me."

"N-No, it's not that!" Izuku blubbered over his words as Kendou seemed to be crushed by his apparent rejection, "I know this good bakery place not from here! We can go there!

"Sounds great," Kendou said as if she hadn't been on the verge of tears a few seconds ago, "Meet out front in ten? Okay, _bye_."

Kendou left leaving Izuku in the centre of the dojo. The sounds of other fights going on around him barely registered as he realised how hard he had fallen for Kendou's trick.

"What just happened?"

* * *

Izuku had showered and gotten dressed in short order. Unfortunately, his mother had neglected to tell him that the makeup would wear off once he took a shower.

The locker rooms were packed so he couldn't even use a Transformation to hide the bruises around his face. So, with a heavy heart, he walked through the gym until he reached the front door.

Kendou was already there looking at something on her phone. The second he walked out, she glanced up at him before doing a double-take.

"What happened to your face?"

"I fell down a flight of stairs?" Izuku said trying to skirt around the issue, "It's all good, though. Doesn't sting _at all_. Come on, let's hurry. That place gets packed around this time."

It was a terribly awful excuse, but he couldn't really tell her that he'd gotten it fighting against an actual Pro Hero. Improvisation under pressure was not exactly his strong suit. He could tell that excuse didn't fly with Kendou when she scoffed.

"Fine, don't tell me," Kendou said rolling her eyes, "I'll just ask whoever it was in the dojo that cleaned your clock. Was it Iwane? No, he'd brag about it. Or maybe Gin? No, he sucks. Unless...it was Mai, wasn't it?"

"Mai the receptionist?"

"Who else?"

It was a novel experience having someone to actually speak to. He was used to walking the streets of Musutafu being deep in thought. This was different and in a good way.

Kendou was willing to drive the conversation after he managed to segue away from the bruises on his face. It wasn't extremely personal or deep stuff, but just normal stuff like villain incidents, school work and the like.

Once they'd gotten to the bakery, they were able to get their food quickly before settling in a booth. It was then that Kendou decided to broach an...uncomfortable topic.

"Did you hear about what Kage did last night?" Her eyes gleamed with excitement which only served to make Izuku feel a myriad of things.

Kendou, understandably, kept up with news of Kage. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as Izuku's All Might obsession, but since he was Kage it definitely unsettled him. As if she'd just figure it out someday.

"He's that vigilante guy that's been in the news a few times, right?" Izuku said as close to neutral as possible, "What happened? Did he get caught?"

"Kage get caught?" Kendou said her tone incredulous, "You didn't get any brain damage from when Mai beat you up, right?"

This was gonna become a thing, wasn't it?

"You don't think Kage could get?" Izuku decided to not respond to her latter question, "Heroes have been on his trail for months now."

"You mean heroes like Kamui who caught _me_ instead of him?" Kendou said with a dry laugh, "It's not like someone like All Might, Best Jeanist or Endeavour are going after the guy. No amount of public statements or interviews will make Kamui like those guys."

Izuku could understand Kendou being bitter about the mishap with Kamui. She at least had a reason to feel that way. The problem was there had been a crackdown of sorts from the public on heroes.

The dismay with everyday heroes was most prevalent in the news, but approval ratings had cratered across the board for lower-ranked heroes. The average approval rating had been 98% 6 months ago and it was now at 93%.

It was not a large drop, but it was concerning that the largest drops were amongst lower-ranking heroes. The top heroes like Hawks, Ryukyu and Endeavour's ratings went up slightly or in the case of All Might stayed at over 100%.

They had all been involved in various large scale operations which no normal hero could have come out of unscathed. The idea that only large scales operations like that were what it took to improve ratings was difficult to process.

Izuku felt guilty because he was pretty sure Kage had a hand in all of this. The most prominent point he had seen repeated was that if a vigilante could do normal crime-stopping it for free, why couldn't actual heroes?

"Izuku," Kendou said nudging him, "You were completely spaced out. You sure—"

"Mai didn't do anything to me!" Izuku said desperately drawing a smirk from Kendou, "Wait, I mean—"

"Your secret's safe with me," Kendou said as she zipped her lips, "Seriously, though. Kage apparently helped capture members of a large drug ring. He rescued a guy who was willing to spill all the beans for some protection."

"Wait really? That's cool!"

It was also the first he was hearing of it.

"How do they know it was him?" Izuku asked even though he knew the answer.

"That's the exciting part!" Kendou said loudly startling Izuku, "He almost got caught by two UA teachers. Midnight and...some other guy. I can't remember his name."

"And this is good because..."

"Don't play this game, Izuku," Kendou said with a heavy sigh, "The Entrance Exam is in less than four weeks. We can find out more about Kage when we're in UA! You like filling out journals, right? About heroes?"

He'd told her that months ago in passing.

"Yeah, but we still need to focus on the exam itself. Hundreds of people our age—"

"You sound like my dad now," Kendou said as she cut off Izuku's lecture, "We _are_ good enough to get into UA. I know I am and you can hang with me even when I'm using my Quirk. You already registered to use your escrima sticks, right?"

"Yeah—"

"Then that rules out like 80% of who we could face," Kendou said as she went back to eating her food.

Izuku was grateful she looked down because he was sure his face was burning up. Another part of having a training partner was getting used to getting compliments.

He was fine with handing compliments out. It was almost inevitable with how amazing he found any and all Quirks. He was not as comfortable with receiving compliments as his blushing face could attest to.

"I don't even know what your Quirk is, but I know you've got enough about you to get in," Kendou said and he had to rest his hands on his cheeks to hide his embarrassment.

"What _is_ your Quirk?"

Surprisingly, Kendou had never asked him what his Quirk was. It was usually something that someone offered up. It wasn't rude per se to ask, but it was polite to wait to be told.

Kendou had apparently run out of patience.

He couldn't lie to her. She'd helped him a lot and she was nice. A lot nicer than everyone else their age. However, he couldn't just spill the beans. Not even his own mother knew about his chakra.

He finally settled on an answer just as Kendou's gaze shifted from curious to confused.

"I'll tell you when I'm ready."

Kendou stared a hole through Izuku and he began to feel sweat form all over his body. There was no way she knew, right? Kage had a whole foot on him and he hadn't even been caught on video since he had helped Kendou.

Izuku tensed up as Kendou finally spoke.

"Fine, then. Keep your secrets."

That was the last they spoke of it.

"I can't make you tell me," Kendou said and her tone set off warning bells in Izuku's head, "I mean I already told you as much as I could about my Quirk. Plus, I've been giving you free lessons and—"

"Do you want me to get you another slice of cake?" Izuku said the first that came to mind.

"That'd be great! I'll be back. My dad's calling me."

As Kendou answered her phone and left him alone in the booth, Izuku could only ask one question.

"What just happened?"

* * *

They had been forced to take the cake to-go. Apparently, Kendou's father had something he wanted to go over with her. They were now walking back to the gym and what had been light and breezy before was now quiet and just a little tense.

Kendou was silent the whole way until they reached her gym. Izuku was about to say his goodbyes and leave when Kendou finally whirled around.

"We can't train together anymore. I know I promised to help you train, but my dad's really nervous about UA and we're going to have an even stricter schedule now. He's upstairs right now. That's why he called me back at the bakery. I wish I could do something to change it, but—"

Kendou trailed off, but the meaning was clear.

This was her dream.

"It's fine, Kendou," Izuku said and he did mean it, "I also have a few things to work on so this is a bit of a relief. I couldn't keep getting home past midnight."

His mother had steadily been getting more and more worried as he kept coming back later and leaving earlier as the days went by. Maybe this would allow him to come home at a more reasonable

"We probably won't be able to meet up until the Entrance Exam," Kendou said before putting her hand out, "Please give me your phone."

He did it without hesitation and after a few taps on the screen, she handed it back. He almost erupted in shock and embarrassment as he saw Kendou's name and _number_ saved as a contact.

He had a _girl's_ number. Even if it was just his sparring partner's number. It was a _girl's_ number.

"Send me a message later tonight so I can save your number," Kendou said as she turned to go, "You better pass the Exam or I'll hunt you down, short stuff! I want at least one friend on the inside!"

Kendou left in a hurry after that as she rushed to get to her training session. Izuku was pretty happy as he walked through the streets towards the mall. He actually had a friend, now.

And all it had taken was escaping a rushing river, finding an abandoned ruin, eating a magical fruit, becoming a vigilante and five months of getting beaten into the ground.

...The first time was meant to be the easiest, right?

Or at least Izuku _really_ hoped so.

* * *

**OC Corner:**

**Kagami Nyuusan - A courier of drugs and other illicit goods. His Quirk is similar to the renowned Engine Quirk from the Iida family. However, Kagami's muscles produce lactic acid at a high rate and also retain the lactate for far longer than is normal. This hampers the usefulness of his Quirk.**

**Hiiro Fukuro - Important member of the Red Jacket. His Quirk allows him to do what an Owl can do.**

* * *

**Author Notes:**

**That makes it five.**

**Originally, this chapter was probably going to spill into like the 13K range, but I decided to end it where I did instead.**

**Izuku had an unfortunate encounter with Aizawa who's just _so_ cool. Izuku is good, but he's not quite able to beat Aizawa.**

**If you weren't keeping track, UA's entrance exam is now only four weeks away. So, don't worry. It's coming.** ****

* * *

**Thanks to all the response from the previous chapter. I really love hearing from you guys. It's always great to hear that you guys are enjoying this.** ****

**Stay safe everyone and I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stick around for the next one.**


	6. "He was going to die, wasn't he?"

**Better late than never, yeah?**

* * *

Izuku stood in the bathroom in just a towel. He was about to take a shower and was about to get dressed for school. Before doing that, though, he was examining the wounds from his fight with Eraserhead.

The bruises were slowly beginning to fade, but unfortunately, it seemed like he still had to wear his mother's makeup to hide it. It was a good thing he was an outcast or else people might actually realise that he looked different.

He had already made peace with having to wear makeup. It was the lesser of two evils.

What was actually harder to explain was the state of his right hand. He had used wind chakra to escape from Eraserhead's battle scarf. It had worked, but perhaps it had worked too well.

He had a myriad of cuts crisscrossing his entire hand. They weren't terribly deep so he was able to clean them and bandage them himself, but it was a reminder that he had quite a ways to go when it came to elemental manipulation.

He'd gotten past the so-called first stage of elemental manipulation for all five elements, but it really did not feel like much of an achievement when he had discovered the second stage for all elements.

Redirecting a lightning bolt, disintegrating followed by reforming a boulder and splitting a waterfall were three of five of the next steps. Those were the three steps for lightning, earth and wind chakra respectively.

Izuku did not even know where to find a boulder let alone a waterfall.

The fire and water exercises were equally ridiculous but ultimately irrelevant. There was a massive leap between step one and step two. It was a leap so big that he wouldn't be able to bridge it for a while yet.

It would be smarter if he focused on gradual improvement. He had mastered leaf exercises so the next step up would have to be harder than the leaf exercises, but not as ridiculous as the final stages.

So, for instance, instead of cutting leaves with wind chakra, he could try cutting rocks and metal items.

That seemed a lot more doable than a waterfall.

Izuku took off his towel and he jumped into the shower. The water was still pretty cold, but if he was late to class then there was a chance someone would point out his makeup.

That would be awkward.

About ten minutes later, Izuku dried himself in the bathroom before rewrapping his hands with bandages. He had bought some more after finishing the supply his house had yesterday.

His mom hadn't yet seen what was under the bandages and Izuku intended to keep it that way until the exams.

It was easy for him to forget that his mother didn't know that he could use chakra. From her perspective, he was just putting his life on the line for a pipe dream. It explained her hesitance to really discuss anything UA related.

Izuku did want to tell his mother everything. He wanted it more than anything, but he was still dragging his feet on that front. A part of it was him just wanting to blow her expectations away, but he had another more pragmatic reason.

If he told her, word for word, what had happened in Konoha, she would drag him to the nearest hospital and spill the beans. From there, he'd probably get an in-depth examination instead of the simple toe joint check.

Who knew what that scan could and would reveal?

Izuku already knew he had an entirely new _system_ integrated into his body. Mutation Quirks were like this except that without fail this always occurred well before birth.

A Quirkless boy gaining powers after eating a fruit in an ancient city? The same ancient city with evidence of Quirk usage well before the Luminescent Baby?

The attention he'd get would be downright awful. If Izuku's couple of months of fame were any indication, he would never be left alone. Ever.

That was just the 'positive' reactions. Who knew what more insidious people would do to him if they caught wind of all of this? What would they do to his mother?

It was why he could only tell his mother when he felt safe.

Izuku got dressed in his uniform and as he packed his bag, his eyes settled on the Kage mask. It brought up a ton of mixed feelings within him.

Izuku loved being able to help out as Kage. Despite his goals for the future, he'd never quite fully believed he could make an actual difference in people's lives.

Discovering his chakra had relit a flame within him he'd thought was long dead. However, rescuing Sumire had turned that flame into a raging bonfire. No, he wasn't saving a hundred people in five minutes like All Might's debut or anything absurd like that, but he was doing _something._

He didn't even go out looking for trouble or at least he didn't at first. A knock-on of training so late was that he'd be going back home when a lot of criminals liked to do their business.

After the first few successes, he'd begun to take roads that were rather high-risk areas. Even then, he'd been very lucky. The truth was that truly powerful criminals weren't going around stealing cars or robbing university students.

He'd been lucky that he had not yet faced an actually dangerous villain. He'd also been lucky that there was zero footage of him outside of Sumire and Kendou's videos. He'd been lucky that there were many clashing theories on what his abilities were.

Finally, he'd been lucky that higher level heroes were unconcerned with him and left his capture to the lesser heroes. Eraserhead and Midnight were some of the best and he had gotten away solely because Eraserhead's Quirk did not work on him.

Again, lucky.

In another timeline, Izuku would have been caught, his abilities exposed and any pathway to the top, let alone UA, would have been shut down.

The more he did as Kage, the more trouble he would be in once he got caught. Quirk usage laws were not an easy thing to bypass even for well-liked heroes let alone a vigilante like him.

The news stations seemed favourable to him, but that seemed more of a way to criticise heroes more than anything. At the very least, online hero forums seemed to have a mostly positive view of him.

Still, though, the positives were vastly outweighed by the negatives especially if he were to be caught. Izuku had known this before helping Sumire, he'd known this when helping Kendou and he'd known this when facing Eraserhead down.

So, why couldn't he quit?

* * *

**Abandoned Mall Rooftop ~ After School**

* * *

Izuku ignored the soft sounds of fabric tearing as he lugged his loaded bag up the wall. He had needed to make a pitstop of sorts and this was his seventh such trip today. His hands and feet were stuck to the wall with chakra, but Izuku was still able to push through and climb onto the roof.

The abandoned rooftop was the scene of a lot of Izuku's recent successes and practically all failures and despite that, it was a sight for sore eyes as he finished his last supply run for the next few weeks. Or so he hoped.

The garden was still in a rather good condition all things considered. The evergreen tree and plants hadn't once wilted despite the change in seasons. If anything, Izuku himself had done more damage to the surroundings than the weather had.

Countless leaves had been destroyed in the name of him mastering the first stage of elemental control.

The trees had regrown the leaves quicker than he could use them, thankfully. It was a large garden, after all. It would take multiple copies of him working on the elements together to actually make a dent in the ecosystem of the rooftop garden.

That being said, Izuku wasn't there to focus on the leaves anymore. He had to figure out additional exercises to build up his proficiency. He had already devised two such exercises for wind and earth.

Speaking of which...

"Ugh," Izuku groaned as he shrugged his bag off and left it near a rather large number of rocks, "That should count as my physical conditioning for the day. That was heavy."

Izuku had loaded his bag up to the brim with as many rocks, pebbles and bricks as he could find. As it turned out, that was a lot. He was sure his bag was in pretty bad shape, but it was all done now.

Izuku picked up a rock as he decided to test his theory. He settled on using earth chakra and he tried to disintegrate the rock. The rock he'd picked was a bit bigger than his fist so he couldn't envelop it entirely with one hand.

He held it in his right hand as he channelled earth chakra into the rock. The rock accepted the earth chakra more easily than the leaf had which was obvious. However, he still needed to channel about triple the amount of chakra before a few grains began to flake off the rock.

After three minutes, the rock had been worn down to half its original size. Izuku scooped the fallen grains up as he tried to put the rock back together His control over the tiny grains was not perfect and after fifteen minutes the rock was halfway to its original size when it imploded from the amount of chakra in it.

He would have mastered earth chakra if he could disintegrate and reform a boulder under thirty seconds. Mastery wasn't quite required to learn jutsu, but Izuku wanted as much control as possible before he began making earth dragons and earth walls.

The people at UA would be blown away.

Well, actually, that probably wouldn't be the case.

Izuku couldn't very well reveal his powers to the UA staff. Or at least not yet. He didn't know any of the staff personally and they might be able to put two and two together when it came to his moonlighting as Kage.

In all honesty, Eraserhead was the one Izuku was most worried about. Eraserhead knew that Kage was very, very fast and could emit some energy that could cut his battle scarf. That was it and yet that was a large chunk of what Izuku's style relied upon.

Despite what the man had said, the rumours on the internet were all over the place so it was likely that those would not be taken as seriously. So, stuff like the Substitution and Surface Sticking could probably be explained away.

However, the biggest concern Izuku had was that he would somehow incriminate himself. Izuku had a good handle on his powers, but surely it was inevitable that he would slip up somehow.

Especially with him moving into the dorms, he would have to be careful of where and what he trained. All it would take is one slip-up and the beans would be spilled.

So, Izuku had to either come entirely clean about his powers, which wasn't ideal _or_ he could make his Quirk to be something else entirely. If he framed certain jutsu as being a cohesive Quirk then he would be fine.

"Which ones could I get away with though?"

The Body Flicker was doable. Being fast wasn't unique in the world after all even if the Body Flicker was extremely fast on its own. Izuku knew he could slow it down and it would probably make him puke a lot less.

The Substitution, Clone and Transformation definitely had to be shelved, though. The last two were obvious and the Substitution was good enough to be a Quirk on its own.

As much as Izuku liked it, he couldn't very well pass it off as him running extremely quickly and then putting something in his place before once again moving away.

Who in the world would believe something like that?

So, the Academy jutsu were nixed off the list. Furthermore, he couldn't really use elemental chakra, could he? Besides the fact that he was likely to hurt himself, there was also the headaches it would arouse.

"Wow, Izuku. You can run super fast and use five elements? That is not weird at all."

All in all, he had to rule out everything he could currently do except the Body Flicker.

Ironically, it was thanks to the Body Flicker that he would be able to add something new in his arsenal.

The Body Flicker used chakra to vitalise his muscles and give them more explosive strength. They exerted enough force to make him sprint at amazing speeds.

From his research into training, Izuku knew that this would really help him with boosting his striking strength. The Body Flicker simply maximised how fast he could run.

The Enhancement Technique would do the same, but for other explosive movements such as punching, kicking, jumping and pretty much anything that needs quick and fast movements.

He had four weeks to get it down. Izuku knew he wouldn't be able to carry a car down the street or anything since that was a different type of strength.

However, should things go the way he expected them to then he had the makings of a speed and strength boosting Quirk. He'd have to change some of the details on his application, but other than that it should be fine.

Izuku picked up a rock and he tried to mimic the effect of the Body Flicker across his entire arm. There was a gentle pressure emanating from within his arm that felt just a little uncomfortable, but nothing too unbearable.

Izuku clenched his fist around the rock as he began to apply pressure. The edges of the rock dug into his palm, but the pain only helped him to focus more on the task at hand.

"Come on, you stupid rock."

Just when he was about to throw the rock away out of frustration, pieces of the rock broke off before falling to the floor. However, before the rock could be fully crushed, the chakra he had built up in his arm faded away and the sensation of pins and needles was all that remained behind.

Izuku rubbed his arm to get rid of the uncomfortable sensation as he reviewed what he had just done. It had gone a lot better than his first attempt the Body Flicker and that was great in his opinion.

Maybe he needed to up the ante.

He needed to find a dummy of sorts to practice his punches and kicks on. He obviously couldn't go to Kendou's gym to practice that so he had to find something here. Izuku scanned the rooftop before his eyes settled on a grove of large trees about thirty metres away.

He sighed.

"It's a bit primitive, but it will have to do."

* * *

**Three weeks later**

* * *

The weeks leading up to the exam went by quickly and school, as always, was a monotonous and grey mess Izuku had to wade through. The silver lining was this was the last day of school.

The UA Exams were now only a week away.

They had completed the vast majority of the last projects, tests and assignments on their syllabus. As it was their final year, their school would not give those going to hero academies their final exam.

The marks they got for the Entrance Exams into hero academies would be combined with their year mark from Aldera to give them a Final Mark. The Entrance Exams by every hero academies were all moderated by external sources even if their difficulty level differed so there was no underhand stuff going on.

Bribery had been a _huge_ problem in the past.

Anyways, UA's exam was one of the hardest and strictest around and that was just the theory portion. The practical portion was said to be even worse. It was why (almost) no one at Aldera High was even going to try the UA Exams.

It was very likely that your Final Mark could get cratered by a poor performance in an Entrance Exam. So, people went the safer route of easier Entrance Exams at decent high schools. It also lowered the number of times one had to take an Entrance Exam.

You could apply to three different high schools, but a lot of the dates tended to clash particularly for elite schools like Shiketsu High and UA. So, generally, people prioritised the very best high school they felt they could get into.

The final two spots were their failsafe choices. If something were to go wrong in their primary choice, presumably they would still be able to get into a lesser, but still decent high school.

Mr Gomasuri was going through the class list and double-checking that everything was in order. Izuku tuned out most of everyone else as he waited for something he knew was coming.

"Ami Bakou. You are applying to Seiai Academy, Musutafu Western and Musakui High, correct? The dates are the 26th, 27th of February and 1st of March respectively. Good luck, Ami. I know you can do well."

"Thank you, sir."

Finally, Izuku had to know just how screwed he was. Hell, maybe he got lucky. Maybe—

"Katsuki Bakugou," Mr Gomasuri said and it was almost as if the entire classroom sat up straighter, "You've applied to UA and UA alone. I suppose that makes sense. If anyone can make it into UA from our school, it's you. Don't forget me when you become a pro!"

"Hell yeah, Bakugou!"

"Put a good word in for me when I transfer to UA, Bakugou!"

"The system's rigged. He should have gotten in on a recommendation! The upper-class Pros protect their own."

The room was filled with all sorts of praise for Bakugou. It was nothing new and in all honesty, was pretty much the norm for their class. Izuku wasn't jealous of Bakugou per se.

Izuku knew that Bakugou worked harder than anyone he'd ever met in everything he did. Despite his volatility, Bakugou was very smart which was admittedly not obvious at first glance.

Furthermore, being born with a powerful Quirk was simply a roll of the dice. Bakugou could easily have just been born with the ability to produce glycerine like his mother and no combustion from his father.

It wasn't Bakugou's fault that he was both smart and lucky. If Izuku had been in his shoes, he'd probably enjoy the attention. Hell, Izuku did quite like the praise Kage got — only when it wasn't intended as a jab at heroes, though.

That being said, it wouldn't kill Bakugou to be less arrogant. Probably. Maybe. The jury was still out on that.

"Izuku Midoriya."

Izuku was drawn from his musings as Mr Gomasuri called out his name scaring the daylights out of him. In his stupor, he banged his knee on the underside of his table causing him to let out a pitiful groan.

"Yes, sir?" Izuku wheezed out and the class took that moment to relish in his clumsiness as they erupted into laughter.

"Settle down, class," Mr Gomasuri said as he managed to regain control of the students, "I know it's the final day and you're excited to take the next step, but there's no need for you to be so disruptive. Now, let's see where Izuku has chosen to—hmm...That can't be right."

Mr Gomasuri turned away from his papers as he went to his computer— a perplexed expression painted across his face. Izuku felt a pit form in his stomach as his class began to whisper.

The all-too-familiar cruel words began to spill from poorly contained conversations.

"I bet Deku forgot to apply anywhere."

"Forgot? A Quirkless loser like him wouldn't get accepted anywhere. He probably has to go to a normal high school with other scrubs."

This was said in varying ways and loudness, but the message was still clear. Everyone thought he sucked.

Weirdly, Izuku was both hurt and not hurt by this. It was downright awful to be disparaged by what were supposed to be his peers and people he'd known for years now.

On the other hand, Izuku knew that their vision of him was a year out of date. So, the joke was on them. Even if he was still seen as a joke.

"Ah, so it wasn't a mistake," Mr Gomasuri said his brows raised as he looked at his screen. The man walked back around his desk and sat on his desk.

Mr Gomasuri cleared his throat for silence and Izuku could see that the man seemed torn between disbelief and confusion.

In all fairness, Izuku understood the reaction. As far as everyone knew, he was still the shy, nerdy, Quirkless loser with dreams he could and would never reach.

Technically since chakra wasn't a Quirk(or was it?!), he was still most of those things. The difference was his dreams were more attainable than ever. Everyone else just didn't know it yet.

"As I was saying," Mr Gomasuri said as he looked down at his paper, "Much like Katsuki, you've only applied to UA. Is that correct?"

The chatter in the classroom dissipated as the words of their teacher sunk in.

"T-That's, uhm, c-correct, Mr Gomasuri sir," Izuku stumbled over his words as everyone stared at him like he was an alien, "I applied to UA. For the hero course."

Bakugou scoffed at his words.

Oddly, that was all it took for everyone to move on. There were murmurs and stares, but nothing too drastic. Izuku took the time to stare out the window as he mentally ran through his schedule for the week.

He'd probably hold back on the elemental training and focus a bit more on the academic side as well as the Enhancement Technique. It would be tragic if he stumbled at the theory stage before even getting to the practical.

So, he couldn't deprive himself of sleep if he wanted his mind and body to be prepared for what was coming up.

The bell rang signifying the end of the day. After a few more well-wishes from Mr Gomasuri, the students began to pack up and file out the class excited for what the days ahead held for them and their futures.

As always, Izuku took his time packing up. It was a bit surreal to realise that this was likely the last time he would set foot in Aldera. He hadn't had the best of times here by any sense of the word, but it was still a lot to take in.

As Izuku finished putting the last of his stuff away, he noticed that someone, or rather a couple of someones, had walked up to him. Izuku closed his bag and he frowned as he saw Bakugou and his cronies standing in front of his table.

"W-What do you want, Kacchan?"

"Look," Bakugou said his eyes narrowed, "I don't know why you think you of all people can pass UA's test and I don't care. All I know is you've been weird since that stupid trip."

Izuku held back a gulp as Bakugou hit the nail on the head.

"The test is a week away, but I'll figure out whatever it is you're up to," Bakugou said as he turned away, "If it affects me in any way then I'll show you why people look up to me and why they look down on you. You got that, Deku?"

"No one, not even you, can or will stop me from getting into UA, Kacchan. I'm not going to go down easy."

Filled a burst of unexpected confidence, Izuku put his bag and walked past Bakugou purposely bumping shoulders with him as he went by.

He was going to die, wasn't he?

Two of Bakugou's lackeys tried to grab him, but to Izuku's surprise Bakugou barked out at them.

"Leave him."

Izuku paused in his stride before he walked off. He could hear them begin to have a loud conversation, but Izuku didn't pay attention to that.

He'd walk to the abandoned mall. This way he'd probably be calm enough to use his chakra by the time he arrived.

* * *

Izuku was a lot calmer now that he'd gotten away from the school. He'd placed a delivery at the bakery he and Kendou had gone to a while back. Normally, he would have ordered something, but his appetite wasn't quite there.

Izuku was using his phone as a way to pass the time as he navigated the busy streets of Musutafu. He was aware enough to not bump into other people or stray into the street. Gradually, he got sucked into what was on his phone and paid less attention to what was going on around him.

First, he had refreshed Sumire's website to see what she had on Kage. The site had undergone a _major_ redesign. She'd probably gotten quite a lot of money from the increased traffic to her site.

Her website had one of the larger forums discussing stuff that weren't the stuff news channels wanted to show. Complaints of recklessness or even corruption by heroes, videos and pictures of fights and even sightings of criminals and, of course, vigilantes.

Izuku scrolled past the pinned thread which mentioned something or someone called Gentle Criminal as he instead clicked on the thread dedicated to any and all news about Kage.

From what he could tell, the incident with the Red Jackets did mention him and what he'd done, but that was it. There was nothing about the abilities he'd used at all. That did make sense.

Eraserhead wasn't exactly the type to speak to the media unless he absolutely had to. Izuku was pretty sure he'd never even heard the man speak until that night by the mall which was crazy for a not-famous famous hero.

Izuku skimmed the rest of the thread, but it was filled with random rumours, opinions and other stuff that wasn't really essential. Izuku closed his browser before opening his messaging app.

He had just two messages. One from his mother about her going to visit Aunt Mitsuki and the other was from Kendou. It was a short video where Kendou sparred with what could only be her father.

They were both wearing protective gear around their heads as they circled one another. She evaded or blocked all his attacks before connecting with a clean strike across his face. Her father dropped like a bag of rocks and Kendou posed over his prone.

The thump of the finishing blow was audible from his phone's speakers even through the afternoon activity. It was only after watching it that he saw the video's caption.

It made Izuku sigh.

'That will be you soon. Wanna put that fancy bottle of yours on the line next time we spar?'

By all accounts, Kendou was really nice and surprisingly enough they did actually text each other pretty frequently even though Izuku was rarely the instigator. It was nice to have someone to talk to besides his mother.

That being said, Kendou tended to be a bit...excitable when it came to training. The contrast between her normal personality and her battle personality was jarring. She went from nice and funny to boastful and cocky and then back again instantaneously.

He still wasn't used to it.

Izuku was pretty sure Kendou had sent that video right after flooring her dad. They didn't share too many details of their training mainly because Kendou probably wanted to surprise him when they got another chance to spar.

He'd never admit it, but Izuku was pretty excited to face her again too. He needed some revenge after she had convinced him to buy one of the bottles sold at her gym. The markup was ridiculous. He should have known it was a scam. She didn't even own one!

Izuku was about ten minutes away from the mall and so he stopped underneath an alcove to type out a message to his mother. He was about to reply to Kendou when loud tremors shook the ground.

A few blocks up he could see people running away and he put his phone away as he ran towards the commotion. He had to duck and weave through a swarm of people going in the opposite direction of him.

By the time he arrived, there were already a couple of heroes on the scene. There were abandoned cars, trucks and other vehicles scattered everywhere. It took him less than a second to find the source of all the trouble.

A giant of a man in shaggy and worn-down clothing stood in the centre of the street. A viscous green sludge leaked from his mouth and eyes further amplifying his intimidation factor.

The giant picked up a car and he pitched it towards an apartment building that had some faces peeking out at the fight. Before it could connect, a spray of tree branches caught it out the air before gently placing it on the floor.

Izuku already knew who was on the scene.

"Hey, it's Kamui Woods! That giant's gonna get it now!"

It was not that simple, however.

Izuku had already seen and recognised all the heroes on the scene. None were suited for direct combat and chances were even Kamui couldn't hit hard enough to take the giant down long enough.

He was more suited to capture than anything else.

"Pre-Emptive Binding: Lacquered Chain Hammer!"

That didn't mean Kamui was useless, though.

The wooden tentacles originating from his arms shot up into the air. They melded and wrapped around each other to form a giant hammer. Kamui brought it down on the giant and the impact was strong enough to send tremors through the ground.

The hammer pressed the giant down to the road and the asphalt splintered and cracked as a result. The hammer then morphed into a crisscrossing of branches that had him pinned to the road. The branches punched holes into the ground further tightening their hold on the villain.

There had been a thunderclap of noise that followed in the wake of the tremor and it felt like a bomb had gone off in-between his ears. Other people were also watching the fight unfold and quite a few people were clutching their ears in pain.

All of them had been ruffled by Kamui's attack, but even then nobody moved. The fight was over, after all. Right? The sound of a truck door sliding open drew Izuku's attention and he turned to see a field reporter practically sprint towards the scene with a cameraman following in his wake.

A very familiar field reporter.

"This is Masukomi Sousa for Starlight News," Masukomi said before turning towards the fight, "Number 37 Hero Kamui Woods is now engaged in a fight with a villain using a Gigantification Quirk. There are massive amounts of property damage, but for the time being it appears Kamui has managed to—"

Before Masukomi could finish his briefing, the giant began to scream and thrash against his bindings. The wood stretched with his movements, but Izuku could see clear as day that keeping the move up was taking a toll on Kamui.

Somehow, the giant managed to get up to his feet. A large chunk of the road was still attached to the giant due to Kamui's Lacquered Chain Hammer keeping him flush against it even as he rose to his full height.

The sludge dripping from the giant's face became thicker and thicker as the giant fought against his restraints. Kamui was using both his hands to keep the man tied up and was unable to do anything or he risked letting the man loose.

The branches began to pull tighter on the man, but all that seemed to achieve was make the sludge drip out of him at a faster rate. The green substance looked weird to Izuku's eyes as it bubbled on the ground as if it were boiling.

No, that wasn't quite right. If anything, the sludge looked as though—

"It's alive! Look at his feet!" screamed one of the people watching the standoff, "There's a face in that green stuff!"

After that proclamation, a lot of things happened almost at the exact time.

The sludge _exploded_ out of the giant and formed a massive, breathing and living pile of sludge. The sludge villain sped across the road with surprising speed before it absorbed a car into its body.

Izuku was barely aware of the Starlight reporter screaming into his mic as the gathered crowd began to scatter. The Sludge villain seemed to convulse before his body suddenly compressed and from it came the car it had just absorbed.

The car had been fired at a nearby office building and it punched into the building with a powerful crash. Screams filled the air as a gaping hole was torn into the building.

Izuku had no idea if it was empty or not.

The Sludge villain then managed to absorb a couple of cars in one go and that sent everyone scattering. Even the heroes who had been helping with getting people out of the danger zone seemed to hesitate to help or backed off entirely.

Kamui was still struggling with the giant who was apparently just another villain and not someone with an odd side effect to their Quirk. However, Kamui was forced to slam the giant into the ground before releasing him as the Sludge Villain fired more cars towards the fleeing crowds.

The cars were travelling with such speed that Kamui was only able to deflect them away from the crowd. Despite his best efforts, though, the cars ended up smashing into office buildings, apartments and shops.

"Kamui is endangering the lives of everyone with his reckless defensive manoeuvres! The ongoing situation here at —"

Izuku had slowly begun to lost his eagerness to see Kamui in action and it finally dwindled to zero as the first car Kamui had deflected—stuck between two buildings— exploded. Windows exploded all over the street and the smell of burning fuel clogged the air.

As Izuku fled, he saw the giant get back up to his feet and Kamui seemed to take a step back as he looked between his two opponents. The giant seemed to focus deeply before his body began to get even bigger. And bigger and bigger and bigger.

He grew and grew and grew until he towered well over all of the buildings. Izuku fled through the crowd as the situation became increasingly dire. Kamui, let alone any other hero, was now nowhere to be seen and as things were it was foolish to stay.

There was a rush to get away, however, as all the people from nearby buildings all chose to take a single exit point. Izuku looked up as the giant closed in on them and he had to squint through the shining sun to keep sight of the villain.

He was going to die, wasn't he?

The situation seemed dire, but then in the blink of an eye, it turned around for the better.

A large shadow swept over the crowd and Izuku caught a flash of purple and yellow before he heard a loud thump followed by the voice of someone, a woman, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Canyon Cannon!"

The giant was sent hurtling away as another giant kicked him square in the face. He tore a trench through the road before collapsing. A titanic woman in a purple and tan bodysuit stood with her hands on her hips.

She turned back to the shellshocked crowd with a smile on her face.

"It's Mt Lady!"

"She saved us!"

Mt Lady bent over the giant in a rather provocative pose. She held him to the ground with ease before looking over her shoulder, "There's no need to worry. As you can see, this ass is well taken care of."

Izuku's face almost melted from how much it was burning up. It wasn't uncommon for both male and female heroes to use their...attractiveness to their advantage. It made them pretty memorable and it helped with the younger demographics too. A lot. Almost disturbingly so.

Judging from how a lot of the crowd seemed to switch gears from scared to cheerful, it seemed to be good for morale too.

Izuku turned back to the ass— he took a beat to refocus. He looked at the _giant_ and he let out a breath as he saw that the villain was unconscious and now back to a normal height. The road was heavily damaged and a pretty disgusting smell emanated from the now-exposed sewers.

A few police officers got cuffs on the man as Mt Lady and some other heroes began evacuating the buildings that were still occupied. It would probably take a couple of weeks to repair everything unless someone like Cementoss was recruited to speed things up.

The only problem was that there was no sight of Kamui or the Sludge Villain. Izuku could only guess that Kamui had gone after the other villain after Mt Lady's timely save.

A few yards away, he saw news stations begin to report on what happened and as expected the most passionate of them was Masukomi. He was the closest to Izuku and he heard snippets of the given report.

"—a lot worse if Mt Lady hadn't been there to clean up their mess. She, above everyone else who was here today, should be commended for her actions. However, let us not forget that Kamui—"

"Deku! What are you doing here?!"

That could only be one person.

Izuku saw Bakugou and his goons began to weave through the crowd towards him. He had no idea what possessed him. Perhaps it was madness brought on from the fumes from the sewers or maybe it was Izuku deciding that today had had enough drama.

In the end, it didn't matter.

He began to run away from Bakugou and his friends and unfortunately just like most days, they wouldn't leave him alone.

Izuku knew that they probably weren't above beating him up. They'd come close multiple times before, but without the threat of expulsion looming over them, Izuku was sure they wouldn't be so hesitant.

"Oh, you are _so_ getting it now, Deku! School's out, but you've still got one lesson to learn!"

He just had to make it to the abandoned mall. It was about ten minutes away if he ran. Once they got to the abandoned district then it would be even easier. He could just use the Surface Sticking to go up a wall or something or he could even Transform into like a dumpster or something.

That would work, right?

* * *

Izuku's plan did not work.

He had managed to stay well ahead of his bullies/classmates until he reached the abandoned property. From there, he was planning to use his chakra to find a way to escape.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one with the idea of using his powers once he got out of dodge.

Akuma was using his devil wings to fly after him and even as Izuku managed to temporarily lose some of the others, Akuma was always on his trail. He flew above the buildings and Izuku's bright bag made him an easy target to follow.

That ruled out climbing a building as well as Transforming.

He could not use the Body Flicker to get to the rooftop because it would raise far too many questions. Questions he was only prepared to answer after the UA exams and not a second before.

Besides, he was pretty certain that Akuma would still be able to find him once he was on the rooftop.

Izuku veered off the main road and instead ran down as many alleyways as he could. He was slowly getting closer to the mall and with the long shadows being cast by the buildings would help hide him.

It seemed to work as he could no longer hear the flapping of Akuma's wings. Maybe he'd gotten tired.

He burst from an alleyway and made it to the mall front. He managed to scale the majority of the wall before he was found out, but unfortunately, his luck seemed to run out just as he got one leg over the edge. His water bottle, loose from all the running he'd done, fell to the ground.

He watched it fall through the air before landing on a manhole cover with a loud shatter. It reverberated through the empty streets and Izuku knew that Hayamimi's Quirk would have definitely heard that.

Why did he listen to Kendou about getting a glass bottle? That thing had floored his mother from how much it had cost. It was way too expensive for just a bottle and she'd been concerned he may lose it so she had...made him put his name on the lid.

Great.

Izuku was forced to crouch down as he heard them approach. Akuma had rejoined Bakugou's group which was good for Izuku. They spilled into the mall's street and Izuku held back a breath as he saw that Hayamimi's ears were enlarged.

If Izuku so much as let out a breath, Hayamimi would probably find him with ease. Thankfully, they did not seem to notice him at first until one of them pointed out the glint of the broken glass.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's probably just from the building. These are all abandoned, right? Maybe they're just old."

"No, it can't be," Akuma said as they walked closer to the glass shards, "My dad's a real estate developer and he said this whole area had a problem with their sewage system. Especially the mall. These buildings are still new and this glass is too small to be from the windows."

"What a nerd!"

"Hey! I just know stuff! It's not my fault you couldn't pass an eye exam!"

"I wear glasses!"

"Exactly!"

"Shut up!" Bakugou screamed at the bickering duo, "Chunky, pass me that metal thing in the middle of that mess!"

Izuku felt his heart sink as Akuma handed the lid to Bakugou. He froze as Bakugou read the inscription before blowing the lid up as he clenched his hand.

"Where are you, Deku?! You dropped your bottle! Rabbit Ears, find him!"

"My name is Hayamimi..."

"I don't care."

Despite the retort from Bakugou, Hayamimi still used his Quirk to search for Izuku. He tried to be as quiet as possible, but in the end, it was pointless.

"There's a heartbeat up on the roof."

There was no point in hiding anymore. Izuku rose to his feet and he looked down at his former classmates. Bakugou's frown deepened as he caught sight of Izuku.

"You could have made this easier on yourself, but if you want to get beaten up here then be my guest. Now are you gonna come down here or are we gonna have to go up there?"

"I don't want a fight, Kacchan!" Izuku said to his former friend, "The exam's in a week. We can't afford to—"

"I don't care about that, Deku!" Bakugou screamed up at him, "If you're not gonna come down here then I guess I'm coming up there!"

Bakugou placed both his hands by his side before he fired a simultaneous blast from both hands. The explosion was strong enough to send tremors to Izuku all the way up on the top floor and it completely destroyed the manhole cover that Bakugou was standing on.

Bakugou was flung through the air at breakneck speeds, but he misjudged the angle of approach. Izuku took a few steps back as the other boy slammed into the side of the roof. His hands latched onto the edge of the roof and Izuku almost went to help him when Bakugou pulled himself up and over with ease.

"It's just you and me here now," Bakugou said as he approached Izuku, "Those scrubs down there can't interfere with this."

Izuku frowned as Bakugou's smile grew larger. He couldn't use his chakra. It would only result in a massive headache especially if he was able to match up to whatever Bakugou threw at him.

"I won't use anything too strong," Bakugou said as he walked forward and Izuku spied a chair leg on the floor, "Just enough to show you that I _can_ stop you from taking that exam if I have to."

Hopefully, that meant he would not have to use his chakra.

Bakugou rushed him and Izuku dove for the chair leg immediately. He sprang up to his feet as Bakigou lashed out, as expected, with a right hook. Izuku used the chair leg to slap aside Bakugou's arm before he lashed out with a side kick.

His foot went flush against Bakugou's ribs and sent the other boy stumbling a few feet away. Izuku held the chair leg at the ready as an irate Bakugou looked back at him. His red eyes held fury and shock and confusion.

"How did you—screw this! I'm gonna enjoy this!"

Izuku had had plenty of practise evading strikes with Kendou and he was pushed to the limit as he strained to stay ahead of Bakugou. The other boy didn't seem to mind when he missed letting out stronger and stronger explosions as he went tearing the garden to shreds.

The main reason Izuku was able to avoid being hit was that he knew Bakugou's attack patterns like the back of his hand. He barely had any time for a counterattack as he shuffled back across the garden.

Izuku managed to slap aside another attack by Bakugou before a kick slammed into his side. Pain erupted in his ribs, but before he could readjust Bakugou connected with a low-powered blast that sent Izuku sprawling across the rooftop.

"Doesn't feel great, huh?"

He had lost his weapon and also been sent closer to the edge and once Izuku rose he could see over the edge. Without warning, the memories from the scavenger hunt came flooding back.

For just an instant, when he looked down he saw the rushing river that had almost killed him.

"You look scared, Deku."

Izuku turned to see Bakugou a few feet away from him.

"I've heard about all the training you've been doing since that trip from my mom," Bakugou said with a frown on his face, "Do you know how much stress you're putting your mom under?! She calls my mom all the time because you stay out past fucking _midnight_ doing who knows what!"

"You need to accept that you can never, ever be a hero, Deku!" Bakugou's words cut into Izuku like the sharpest of knives, "You are just normal. There is nothing special about you and there never has been and there never will be. Stop risking your life trying to change that! Auntie Inko deserves more than that!"

Izuku felt many emotions swirl up inside as Bakugou continued to berate him. Were his actions really having such a bad effect on his mother? Why didn't she say anything? How didn't he notice?

Had he been so wrapped up in getting into UA that he forgot to check in on his mom?

"Is that why you're so angry? I don't want to fight, Kacchan," Izuku said as he cut Bakugou off, "I know I haven't been the best son for the past year and I'll work on that, but even then I won't let anyone but me decide if I can or can't become a hero."

Izuku stared at Bakugou who for once didn't seem as hostile. Izuku walked past Bakugou as he went away from the edge as he remembered the last time they'd been in a similar position.

He could hear their classmates arguing about something, but neither of them paid it any attention. As he walked away, he could hear the flapping of Akuma's wings which meant they'd probably be joined by the others soon.

He turned back to Bakugou whose gaze was still less hostile than usual. Akuma rose behind them his wings flapping rapidly as he touched down on the ground.

Izuku was about to speak when he noticed something off.

Akuma's skin was a sickly green and a nasty sludge of the same colour dripped off his wings and from his mouth and ears. Izuku felt as though ice was forming in his veins as he recognised the villain from before.

"Which one of you caused all that noise?" A distorted and deep voice that was definitely not Akuma's said.

The villain looked between the two of them before he saw the smoke trailing off of Bakugou's palms. Bakugou didn't seem to fully understand what was going on and Izuku ran towards him, but he was too late.

As Bakugou opened his mouth to speak, a flood of green sludge flew from Akuma's mouth and into his. By the time, Izuku reached Bakugou there was green sludge dripping from his mouth.

"Let's have some fun, shall we?" Not-Bakugou said.

Okay, for real now. He was going to die, wasn't he?

* * *

Toshinori was enjoying the rest of his day off. There had been a rather major incident near the edges of town. Launched cars, damaged roads and scores of injuries.

He'd been occupied with a hostage situation on the opposite side of town and by the time he had arrived, the problem had been dealt with and the clean up was underway.

One of the villains, a sludge-like monster, had gotten away before Mt Lady could apprehend. They had assumed Kamui was in pursuit, but the man himself had said he had found no trace whatsoever.

Toshinori did feel bad for Kamui. He kept his ear to the ground and kept himself abreast of the situation of different heroes. Kamui was one such hero because of his declining popularity.

Toshinori had been certain that Kamui would be a top 10 hero soon enough, but if things continued as they were Kamui would be lucky to crack the top 200 and that was being nice about it

The hit job in the media had been that successful. Maybe if he had been there then Kamui wouldn't be having such a hard time. Someone as young as Kamui didn't deserve that. No one did.

Unfortunately, it had happened before and would happen again. Some people somehow got tired of hearing all the good and began to manufacture some controversy. It was probably all just for money and nothing made money quite like controversy.

Toshinori's crime radio crackled to life and he rose out of his seat to shut it off. He couldn't keep it on when he barely had any time left to use One for All for today. It just hurt to know that he couldn't do as much as he could before.

He needed to find someone he could trust to use it. Or he had to with a rather uncomfortable solution.

"We've got a situation at the abandoned Agatarri Mall," the responder said and despite himself, he kept the radio on, "A bunch of schoolboys said they had been attacked by some sort of sludge monster that possessed their friend. Some have fled, but there are still some children fighting. The sound of explosions was clear so the recommend rank is A if alone and B if in groups of three or more. I repeat we've got a situation at the—"

Toshinori turned off his radio as he tapped into One for All. His body grew to thrice it's size as it surged with energy. He was out the door in a second and he sped off towards the Agatarri Mall.

He had about ten minutes left. He had to make them count.

* * *

**Author Notes:**

**Thanks for the response to the last chapter. This is probably my most popular fic which is wild. Massive thanks to everyone bookmarking, reading, following and everything in-between. You guys rule.**

**This chapter was supposed to come out sooner, but my brother needed my laptop for this work thing and so I didn't have this thing for 6 full days.**

**Here it is, though. I have some normal news and then I have some great news.**

**Normal news: I made a Discord server where I'll give daily updates on my progress with each chapter. You can use it to ask me questions or give suggestions on stuff like OCs, Ultimate moves, ships or just chat. I also have an OC competition channel where I'll add in your Original Content where necessary.**

**The first competition is officially open. What do YOU think Izuku's hero costume should be? I have one in mind, but if any of you have anything cooler you've got to shoot your shot. Full credit will always be given. Please do try to join the discord server instead of putting the OC stuff in the comment section on here or on AO3. It makes it a lot easier to respond to you guys.**

**Server: discord. gg/ Ty68TdCDu6 (remove spaces)**

**Onto the great news: I have already finished chapter 7 and it should be up a day or two after this. It just needs some final touches.**

**Until like tomorrow or the day after lol.**


	7. "This is my swamp."

**Told y'all this would happen.**

**Okay, before anything let me get ahead of some stuff. It will be apparent that certain things won't work exactly the same as canon. For both Naruto and BNHA. I _know_ how the Substitution actually works, but like a lot of things in Naruto, it's so, not dumb, but weird. The Transformation is an _actual_ Transformation and yet no uses it in battle aside from Naruto. _Why?_**

**For the BNHA side, it is a shounen, and so some stuff will not translate well to text. Visual stuff like waterfalls of tears, sweatdrops, nosebleeds and All Might's blood spewing. Plus, some characters are extremely flat like Ojirou or full-on blank like Koji and Shouji. I had to make adjustments to personalities as well as the world in general just to ground the story and then also to be able to make stuff more fleshed out. You'll see what I mean if you haven't already, but that's the long and short of it.**

**I know I'm preaching to the choir with what I said above. This is fanfiction, we all know the deal, but I just had to get that off my chest lol. I love reading what you guys have to say, but I don't always have the luxury to respond to all of you especially when you ask something that leads to a spoiler.**

**I take _most_ of your concerns(the valid ones) into consideration, but often it's something I can't assuage without spoiling the plot which is a no-no or it's addressed in literally the very next chapter lol. ** **I already spoke about the tempo of the fic, but I think with how quickly I've been pumping these out (if I may be so bold) and with how long this story will actually be, I'm content with keeping the current tempo. Not every chapter will be balls to the wall action, I'm afraid.**

* * *

Izuku let out a groan as he slammed into a tree. He slowly rose back to his feet as he looked at his opponent. Bakugou's face morphed into an eerie smile that was unnatural to Izuku. He'd seen Bakugou smile like this before countless times. However, this was especially unsettling because Izuku knew who was actually in control of Bakugou.

"It's too bad the kid with the devil wings left," Sludge-Bakugou said his voice deep and slimy, "I now only have you to contend with."

Sludge launched forward with another attack and Izuku was able to parry it. However, he did not press his advantage as he saw Bakugou's face twist into a pained grimace. He paid for this as Sludge hit him with a palm strike to the chest.

In sheer desperation, Izuku channelled chakra to reinforce the entire front side of his torso. It was no moment too soon as Sludge used Bakugou's Quirk to blast him away.

Izuku rolled and rolled before coming to a stop on the ground. His chest ached and his head felt like it was spinning and his mouth tasted coppery, but considering there wasn't a hole in his chest, he considered that a win.

"I thought I put enough in that to kill you," Sludge said as he looked down at Izuku, "Maybe you're tougher than you look."

Izuku frowned as he rose to his feet. He was reluctant to fight Sludge because of the effect it might have on Bakugou. Sludge's real body was inside of Bakugou so would any hits even work on him?

Izuku thought back to the fight between Kamui and Sludge inside the giant. The sludge dripping out of Bakugou probably meant that there had to be a time limit and stronger attacks seemed to decrease the time Sludge had like with Kamui's attack.

So, all in all, he _had_ to beat Bakugou up to save him.

_Oh, no._

Izuku deepened his stance as Sludge tried to attack with a left hook. He caught Sludge's arm before slamming him into the ground. A spray of sludge escaped from the villain's mouth proving Izuku's theory to be correct. He held onto the arm before he stomped all over the villain's face and chest. He then kicked Sludge in the side causing more liquid to spill from his mouth. Izuku took a few cautious steps back as the villain struggled to his feet

Time to kick things into the next gear. His hands flashed through handseals with no sign of rigidity or awkwardness. Ram for control, Tiger for power and then Horse to bind it all together. 

"Fatebreaker!"

Chakra spread from his core and seeped into every inch of his body. His muscles and joints and bones all became stronger and tougher as they were flooded with chakra. Wisps of chakra leaked from his body as his muscles tensed with stored power. The Fatebreaker was his first jutsu and it was simple in its design. Much like the Body Flicker, the more chakra he used, the more power it had. At his strongest, he had punched through a tree pretty easily. Beyond that and he lost control and there would be no boost.

Still, though it was cool. Actually, chakra was cool. Izuku wondered if he looked cool. He _felt_ cool.

No one wanted to be the guy with lame names for their moves. _Everyone_ had awesome names for their moves literally everyone and it seemed like the better hero, the better the names they came up with.

"You can name your techniques whatever you want," Sludge said as he got back up to his feet about five metres away from Izuku, "You will still—"

He had said that out loud, didn't he?

Izuku tensed up before he sprinted at Sludge. The wind was whipping his face as he closed in on Bakugou's captor. He closed the distance between them catching Sludge off-guard in the blink of an eye.

"—lose!"

A powerful right hook slammed into Sludge's face with a loud crack. Slime flew through the air once more as the villain cradled 'his' jaw. Sludge tried a left hook _again_ and Izuku parried it before he lashed out with a rising kick that Sludge barely managed to block.

His foot smashed into Sludge's arm with a loud crack before it sent the villain stumbling. Sludge tried to raise both his hands, but his right arm fell to his side limp as a wet noodle. He probably had to dial it back a bit. He was breaking bones before the multiplier, but that could also be due to the Sludge affecting Bakugou's durability. 

Izuku rushed forward again and he connected with a flurry of punches to Sludge's torso. The punches had a harsh staccato rhythm and all the while slime began to spew from the villain's mouth.

Sludge tried to hit Izuku with an explosion, but he avoided it with ease. Having only one useable arm seriously hampered Sludge. Izuku was able to stay away from any and all blasts since they only came from one side.

Izuku smashed another flurry into Sludge's gut making the villain keel over. He pushed the villain back and when Sludge rose, Izuku finished off the barrage with a powerful uppercut.

Sludge flew through the air before he landed on his back. A deluge of slime flew from Bakugou's mouth and Izuku was about to attack until he saw a pair of yellow eyes open in the sludge.

The slime was still wrapped around Bakugou by thin threads. The more Izuku looked it at, the more it looked like some odd marionette technique. Bakugou was dragged to his feet by the sludge and he seemed to slowly regain consciousness.

"Deku? What the—argh! What the fuck happened to my body?!" Bakugou tried to speak, but he groaned from the pain of being moved around like a puppet in his current state, "What the hell is this?"

"Don't worry my sweet child," Sludge said with a smirk on his face, "I took your body for a spin, but the boy over there is better than I expected. He's practically a smaller version of All Might. So I have to do things like this. I feel no pain like this and I can still use your Quirk. Now, stand down, Green."

Izuku deactivated Fatebreaker as Sludge's words sunk in. This was some sort of warped hostage situation and so he had to tread carefully. Izuku did not want to find out if Sludge could kill Bakugou before Izuku could free him.

"I feel like All Might used me as a punching bag... _You_ did this to me? How?" Bakugou said his eyebrows squished together in a frown, "Look, Deku just run and get a Pro. I can handle this from here."

"Not with a broken arm, Kacchan," Izuku said as he reactivated the Fatebreaker, "Let me show you what I'm made of."

"Deku, you idiot! Just—"

Bakugou's words were swallowed, literally, as slime enveloped his head. He struggled against the bonds, but he couldn't move an inch. Sludge leered at Izuku seemingly delighting in Bakugou's pain.

Izuku took a step forward, but he stopped as Sludge's grip on Bakugou tightened.

"Not so fast, Small Might," Sludge said to Izuku, "If you don't leave now then I choke your friend to death. Have you ever seen someone drown on dry land before? I have. It's pretty great. For me, not for them."

"What will you do with him once I leave?"

"Who knows?" Sludge said as he sensed Izuku's discomfort, "A Quirk like his could set me up nicely for life. I might even just keep his body. Bottom line is at the very least you won't have to see him die."

Izuku's eyes flicked towards Bakugou whose struggles had gradually weakened. He had to make a choice and quick. In reality, though, there was only one choice. There was no way he could leave Bakugou here.

He raised his hands to surrender and thankfully Sludge removed the slime around Bakugou's head. Bakugou seemed to be teetering on the edge of falling unconscious based on what Izuku could see, but ultimately he was alive.

Despite all that though, Izuku felt white-hot rage bubble up within him. He was mad at himself for luring everyone far out of town, he was mad at Bakugou for starting the whole fight in the first place and attracting Sludge here.

However, most of all, he was _furious_ at Sludge for everything he'd done today. In a blind rage, Izuku felt a surge of chakra originating from his arms. He pointed his left hand towards Sludge and before he knew it a very familiar black rod was shot at the monster.

The rod blew straight through Sludge without harming the villain. Sludge blinked as he was unaffected by the attack, but he then trapped Bakugou in the chokehold once more with nary a word.

"You did this to him!" Sludge screamed, but he was barely audible over the thrumming in Izuku's ears.

Acting on pure instinct, Izuku used his left hand to form _half_ a handseal as he prepared a Body Flicker. His right hand was pointed beside him and another rod burst from his palm before he caught it with ease. The noises in his head grew louder and louder and his vision flickered for a bit as he saw a flash of white and red.

"This time I'll crush the boy's head! Then I'll take _your_ body!"

The deluge of sensations vanished as Izuku kicked off the ground in a powerful Body Flicker. Time seemed to slow down as he homed in on his target. He weaved out of the way of sluggish and slow attacks from Sludge before he stopped in front of the villain and drove the rod into Sludge's eye.

The villain let out a shriek of pain and he instantly released his hold on Bakugou. To Izuku's amazement, the slime began to bubble and boil as he drove the rod deeper into Sludge.

The many threads holding Bakugou captive seemed to lose their strength and his classmate fell to the floor. Sludge's very body seemed to distort and shift as Izuku fought to keep the rod in place.

Slime was beginning to wrap around Izuku's body. It was far less viscous than before and resembled green water more than anything. Still, though, the volume made it dangerous and Izuku felt as though he was stuck under a flowing river.

His grip on the rod became weaker and weaker as visions of falling into the river over a year ago overcame. The moment played on a loop in his

He struggled and thrashed as the water dragged him into his murky depths. He began to fight the onslaught off more as the watery slime began to seep into his nose and mouth.

In sheer desperation, Izuku was about to begin moulding lightning chakra despite being fully submerged in a liquid. He vibrated his chakra to the right frequency and was about to unleash it when he _felt_ something land on the ground.

"Texas Smash!"

A strong wind blew over Izuku and the slime clinging to his body was blown off instantly. Izuku took a heavy breath as he fell to the ground. He had probably been under for less than ten seconds, but it had felt like ages. 

He probably had more issues than he had first thought.

If it hadn't been for the guy who used a Texas Smash then Izuku—

He sat up.

A _Texas_ _Smash_?

Izuku turned to see a tall blonde monster of a man holding up Sludge in a bottle. His hair spiked up above him and he had an impossibly wide and bright smile. It was—

"All Might," Izuku whispered as he stared up at his idol, "It's really you!"

"Indeed it is!" All Might said before holding a thumbs up to Izuku, "I thank you for saving your friend over here! If you hadn't intervened when you did then I fear he may have done something truly terrible to the both of you."

Izuku practically shone underneath All Might's praise. A lightbulb went off in his and he scrambled for his notebook, but when he opened it he was surprised to see that it was already signed by All Might.

Was he even human?

"I'll take the two of you to a hospital," All Might said as he fastened the bottle Sludge was in before picking up Bakugou, "Would you happen to have this boy's emergency contacts?"

"Wait you're gonna take me to the hospital? I have Kacchan's mother's number. We can go right now!"

Izuku put on his bag before he jumped on All Might's back. The man didn't even seem to flinch from Izuku's weight slamming into him full force. All Might adjusted his grip on Bakugou and Sludge before he turned to Izuku.

"Hold onto your boots, young man!"

All Might crouched down and Izuku latched onto him like a baby sloth to its mother. He was on All Might's back! He was being carried by All Might! That was one off the bucket list. Suddenly, All Might exploded high into the skies clearing miles within a single leap.

Izuku looked down on the aerial view of Musutafu that he was being given by All Might and he did the only thing he could do in such a situation.

He screamed.

* * *

**Musutafu Hospital**

* * *

Despite feeling pretty good overall, Izuku was still checked into the hospital as a precaution. He had called his mother to explain what had happened and thankfully she had been with Aunt Mitsuki which made things a lot easier.

Unfortunately, he hadn't been allowed to see them as a stern-faced nurse had all but forced him to stay in bed. When he woke up the next day, the very first thing he saw was Bakugou lying on a bed of his own.

The boy was scowling up at the ceiling no doubt replaying yesterday's events. Bakugou had been rather beat-up but was in perfect condition now. Maybe he'd been seen to by someone with a healing Quirk?

"Are you just gonna stare at me or are you gonna say something?"

Well, this was awkward.

"H-How are you feeling, Kacchan?" Izuku said and he was used to the eye roll that accompanied Izuku's usage of his childhood nickname, "You took quite a beating yesterday."

"Yeah, I know," Bakugou said with a sneer on his face, "I was the one cooped up in some room as some old lady kept kissing me!"

An old lady kept _what_?

"So are you going to tell me how you didn't get your guts blown out by that stupid villain?"

"I-I guess I got lucky—"

"Fine then don't tell me," Bakugou said as he let out a huff, "You need to get better at lying. Lucky? You beat someone using my body _and_ my Quirk because you were lucky? How stupid do you think I am, Deku?"

"Okay—"

"I don't care about what you have to say, Deku!" Bakugou said his voice piercing the quiet of the room, "I don't wanna hear any more bullshit! I'll figure things out on my own and don't think you owe me or anything. You should have—"

The door opened to reveal a doctor who was then followed in by someone in a brown trench coat over some formal wear. The man stood by politely as the doctor spoke to the two of them.

"Izuku and Katsuki, I hope you had a good rest," the doctor said and there was a hint of exhaustion in his voice hinting at the rigours of his job, "I apologise for not being here sooner, but the hospital is rather busy after yesterday's events."

"I slept well, thank you."

"It was fine."

"That is good to hear," the doctor said before turning to the other man, "This is Detective Tsukauchi. He's here in place of All Might to get some answers about what happened yesterday."

Izuku felt a bit nervous as he learned why Tsukauchi was here. They hadn't done anything wrong, right? It's not like they could be expected to _not_ defend themselves against a villain. Then again, he _had_ stabbed Sludge in the eye, but that was only because of the intensity of the situation. Bakugou could have died.

"Your parents have already signed your discharge forms. I understand that you have the UA exams in just a few days, but I recommend taking it easy until then. Rest and recuperation is the name of the game."

The doctor then turned away having said all that he needed to. Izuku was pretty keen to see his mother as he felt that it was about time he got around to telling her about his Quirk.

Honestly, he wasn't sure just how much he was going to tell her, but he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. The longer he went without saying anything, the more he felt like he was gonna burst.

He just had to tell _somebody_.

"I'll leave you to it, Tsukauchi," the doctor said as he nodded at the detective before leaving the room.

"Hello boys," Tsukauchi said as he got his notepad out, "It's good to see that you're alright."

"Can we just move on?" Bakugou cut in and despite how rude it was Izuku was pretty grateful that Bakugou was honest enough to say so.

"You must be anxious to get home. I'll cut straight to the chase," Thankfully Tsukauchi didn't seem upset about Bakugou's bluntness at all, "The villain will be fine. He suffered no permanent injuries and is expected to make a full recovery. We believe its a side-effect of his Quirk."

Well, that was good news. In his blind rage, Izuku had _not_ blinded a man. This was off to a good start.

"Can you explain why you were at the Agatarri Mall?"

Ah, there it was.

Izuku and Bakugou looked at each other and a beat passed before Bakugou spoke, "I wanted to see what Deku was up to."

"I see. And you, Izuku?" 

Izuku glanced at Bakugou before sighing, "I was trying to get away from Kacchan."

"Why is that?"

Tsukauchi's response was rapid.

"I wanted some privacy to prepare for the UA exam," Izuku said after a moment's silence, "Kacchan has been curious about what I've been up to for and I didn't feel comfortable sharing that knowledge with him."

"I see. Bakugou were you the only one pursuing Izuku?" Tsukauchi as he turned to the other boy, "And before you answer, I _will_ know when you're lying."

Izuku believed Tsukauchi immediately. You didn't get to work directly with All Might unless you were very good at your job. Tsukauchi probably spent his days interrogating hardened criminals. A bunch of fifteen-year-olds were probably ridiculously easy to read in comparison.

"No, there were a couple of others from our school too," Bakugou said his tone holding hints of resignation, "I used them to help me keep track of Deku."

"Did you and these other students use your Quirks to locate Izuku? Even though you knew it was illegal?"

"...yes."

"It's clear as day that there is tension between you. Did you and Izuku get into a fight with each other? And did you use your Quirk in that fight?"

"Kacchan—"

"Can it, Deku," Bakugou said before turning to Tsukauchi, "Yeah, I used my Quirk on him. I honestly wasn't trying to hurt him badly just maybe try to scare him out of taking the UA Exams."

"Why?"

"Our mothers are good friends and his mom told my mom that he's been staying out past midnight training all the time. It pissed me off that he kept doing this stuff without thinking of his mom."

"Is this true Izuku? Have you been staying out late to train?"

"Y-Yes," Izuku said as he looked down to his lap, "I just knew that I needed to work hard to make up for my past laziness and because UA will have the best of the best. Still, though, everything he said is true."

"I'll be honest with you boys," Tsukauchi said as he closed his notepad, "We already knew all of this from your other classmates. I just wanted to see if they omitted any facts and that doesn't seem to be the case."

"That being said you must be punished for what you did to Izuku, Katsuki" Tsukauchi said and to Izuku's surprise Bakugou didn't really react, "You have been given 25 hours of community service by a local judge to be served before you enrol into your next school."

Community service? That wasn't so bad. Quirk Usage laws were almost cruel at times. Izuku would have been gutted if Bakugou had gotten something more severe. No one was hurt and Bakugou was young so anything more would be rather harsh.

"Your record will be sealed and then eventually cleared since you are a minor," Tsukauchi continued without skipping a beat, "Furthermore, All Might has paid off the property damage you caused so count yourself lucky. Your mother has the paperwork."

Bakugou clicked his tongue but said nothing more. He glared down at his lap and Izuku was positive he did not want to know what was going through the boy's mind.

"Now onto the fight with the Sludge Villain," Tsukauchi said and Izuku was thankful for the change in topic, "A boy called Akuma said the Sludge Villain took over your body. Do you remember anything after that happened?"

"Only that he was fighting, ugh, _losing_ to Deku after taking full control so he was going to use me as some sort of marionette. I had a broken jaw and arm. My whole body was in a lot of pain. I told Deku to run for it before that monster tried to choke me out. I remember nothing after that."

"Could you fill in the blanks, Izuku?"

"I, uh, fended off the villain for as long as I could and eventually I managed to beat him up enough that he tried that marionette thing with Kacchan," Izuku said being truthful but vague.

"That villain was no joke for untrained children like you," Tsukauchi said his tone laced with some curiosity and...was that...respect?

"According to your mother as well as the other students, you don't have a Quirk. How did you manage to beat him off if this was the case? You did quite a number on Katsuki's number. All Might tells me Recovery Girl was rather annoyed at him for not getting there sooner."

The mention of All Might made Izuku's already substantial guilt multiply. He had already paid for the property damage done to the mall and now he was in hot water with another Pro? All because Izuku had chosen to run instead of talking Bakugou and his goons down.

"I do have a Quirk. It's this internal energy that boosts my natural speed and strength...or at least that's what I know it can do for now. That's what I've been sneaking out to master," Izuku said finally causing Bakugou to turn towards him in shock.

"What the fuck, Deku? Why didn't you use it against me in our fight?"

"It's against the law. Plus, I didn't want to hurt you, Kacchan."

"You couldn't hurt me if you tried!" Bakugou all but screamed at Izuku. His brows were pulled into a heavy frown and he had a sneer on his face. 

The lies left Izuku's mouth with surprising ease. He thought it would mollify the other boy, but it only seemed to make him angrier. He scolded at Izuku before rising to his feet.

"I'm going to see my parents."

"Sorry about that," Izuku said and Tsukauchi took a beat before waving him off, "It's not an issue. Continue your explanation."

"The whole fight was pretty hard and I got very lucky to hurt him enough to leave Bakugou's body," Izuku said as more lies left his mouth, "I stabbed him in the eye with a pipe I found nearby when he tried to kill Kacchan. A few seconds after that All Might beat Sludge and then took me here."

"Is that the whole truth?"

Izuku took a deep breath.

"Yes."

"Okay," Tsukauchi said as he rose to his feet, "That's all I needed. I'll leave it to you to inform your mother of your Quirk. It would probably do her the world of good to know you can take care of yourself."

Izuku looked at Tsukauchi in surprise and the man seemed to read his surprise in an instant.

"You have a Quirk after not having one practically your whole life," Tsukauchi said as he stopped at the door, "I think you and your mother would benefit from having that conversation in a more private location."

* * *

**Musutafu Police Station**

* * *

Toshinori paced around Tsukauchi's office in his shrunken form. He had spent the whole day speaking with Nezu from UA about the finer details of his _potential_ position at UA.

It had provided a welcome distraction from the encounter he had had with the two boys and the villain on that mall.

Before he had subdued the villain with a Texas Smash, Toshinori had paused in his advance to come up with a solution. He wasn't a master tactician like Sir Nighteye or Best Jeanist, but he had decades of experience under his belt so he was no slouch.

The presence of the two boys had made things tricky. The Sludge Villain had somehow worked his way into the very being of the blonde boy. He had been worried that any attack on the villain would indirectly harm the boy.

It was then that the green-haired boy garnered his attention.

Toshinori had been surprised when the boy had fired a metal rod from his hands at the villain. He had thought the boy had a strength Quirk based on the state of the captured boy whose body had been used as a weapon similar to the giant against Kamui.

He then received the surprise of his life as the boy summoned another rod before he sprinted towards the villain at an _amazing_ speed. No, amazing was underplaying it. The boy had moved unnaturally quick.

It _had_ to have been a Quirk.

The problem was Toshinori was certain that he'd seen the rod manifest from the boy's skin. Furthermore, once it had pierced the Sludge Villain _in the eye_ it was clear that it had a horrible effect on the villain, understandably, and he had freed the blonde boy giving Toshinori his opening.

There were two conclusions. Either he was going blind which wasn't the case or the boy had two, maybe even more, Quirks. If that was the case then Tsukauchi had to scope out the boy and see what he was like.

He had checked into the boy's parents and their Quirks to ensure it wasn't a Quirk Marriage.

It wasn't.

Izuku was born Quirkless.

He obviously still had One for All so Toshinori knew of only one way someone could _get_ aQuirk or indeed _multiple_ Quirks _._ A dull ache formed at the side of his chest and he felt blood seep into his mouth.

If All for One had somehow survived their last battle then his search for a successor to One for All had just become all the more urgent.

The door opened a moment later and Toshinori all, but rushed Tsukauchi as he walked into the office. Tsukauchi held him at bay as he offered Toshinori a cup of coffee.

"Take this and take a seat," Tsukauchi said and Toshinori acquiesced to his friend's request as the detective settled on the other side of the wall.

"What did you get?" Toshinori said after taking a sip of coffee, "Tell me I'm not going crazy."

Tsukauchi took a deep gulp of his coffee before saying, "You're not going crazy, Toshinori. The boy is definitely hiding something."

"What did you find out?"

"Izuku and the other boy have known each other long and their parents are close friends, but the same doesn't go for them. In fact, the reason they were at the mall was that Izuku was running away from Katsuki."

"He was?"

"Yeah," Tsukauchi said with a heavy sigh, "Apparently, Katsuki wanted to beat some sense into Izuku's head about his weird behaviour. For months now, he's been coming home late constantly and Katsuki heard of this through his mother."

"Why would he do that? What was he up to?"

"Training for Hero Course exams. He thought he was far out of his depth and needed to work harder than everyone else," Tsukauchi said as he put his coffee down, "None of those were lies. The actual lies were interesting though."

"How so?"

"You see Izuku was born Quirkless and up until yesterday everyone in his life believed that to be the case."

"But on that rooftop—"

"Exactly. Izuku lied to Katsuki about why he didn't use his Quirk— his reasoning being that he didn't want to hurt the other boy and that it was illegal."

"Which was the lie?"

"Both. Although, I doubt even Izuku himself knows he was lying about the first one."

"So he has no qualms about breaking the law?"

"Not necessarily," Tsukauchi corrected him, "He could have simply been afraid or wanted to keep things a secret until the UA exam or he could have been blackmailed for someone for all we know."

Toshinori sighed, "So? How does that help us?"

"I think Izuku didn't show his abilities because he was afraid of revealing where he had gotten them from," Tsukauchi said with such patience that it made Toshinori feel a bit guilty about his own impatience.

"I believe he is rather strong as he lied about the fight with Sludge," Tsukauchi said unaware of the thoughts brewing within Toshinori, "He _said_ he was lucky to have dealt so much damage, but he definitely did not _feel_ that way. Plus, he said the rods you said he had summoned were actually pipes picked off the ground. Another lie."

"So, Izuku was born Quirkless, but now has two Quirks and potentially more judging from the damage sustained by Katsuki," Toshinori said to map out their findings, "So, it's not impossible that All for One could have gotten to him."

" _If_ All for One is still alive then I doubt Izuku would be working for him," Tsukauchi said as he stared off into space, "He is very reserved and still tried to calm Katsuki down despite their altercation yesterday. I'm too much of a realist to rule it out, but I do think there's something we're not seeing. He _is_ lying about how his abilities worked too and that has me worried."

" _That_ has you worried? The kid stabbed someone in the _eye,_ " Toshinori said to his friend, "The kid _blinded_ the villain from yesterday. What fifteen-year-old does that and doesn't react in any way."

Tsukauchi averted his gaze as he coughed, "Maybe one that does not know he blinded a villain?"

"Why—"

"He's a kid, Toshinori," Tsukauchi said with a sigh, "I know that your battle with All for One left scars that weren't just physical, but this kid is a good kid. He has enough to deal with as things stand. Telling him about what he did to a villain who is going to be jailed until death won't do him any good."

Toshinori felt a surge of pain as Tsukauchi mentioned the name of his greatest foe. Was he being too harsh on a child? He was obviously a huge fan of his from how he'd freaked out on the way to the hospital. Did the kid know that he spoke his thoughts out loud or not?

"That being said," Tsukachi said after taking a sip of coffee, "He is hiding something. It could be anything even your All For One theory. I could be wrong and you could be totally right, but we just don't know enough as things are. Thankfully, you should be able to find the missing links yourself."

"Wait, me?" Toshinori said as he leaned forward, "Why me? Subtlety has never been my strong suit."

"Not just subtlety, _all_ your suits are terrible."

Toshinori groaned.

"Live a little, Yagi," Tsukauchi said with a smile on his face, "But to answer your question, I have two reasons. One, he is a massive fan of yours so you can get closer to him. I wouldn't be surprised if he got a tattoo of you on his face. Hell, he looked like he was gonna cry when he heard that Recovery Girl was mad at you."

"Okay and the other?" Toshinori said as he kept himself from rising to the bait.

"Oh, those exams I mentioned," Tsukauchi said with a smirk on his face, "He's going to UA's and so is Katsuki. So you can keep a close eye on him and figure out what we're missing. You just need to finally accept Nezu's offer."

Oh, _no_.

"Do I have to?"

"It's for the best and you know it. Plus, if this kid is on the straight and narrow, which he probably is, then you would be giving him and a generation of new heroes first-hand tutelage from Japan's Greatest Ever Hero."

"You can lay off the flattery," Toshinori said drawing a smile from Tsukauchi, "I'll do it. This could just be nothing."

Deep down, though, Toshinori knew it wasn't nothing. This was a fishy situation and it stunk to high hell. Wait, actually—

"Was that you? Disgusting!" Toshinori pinched his nose as he glared at his friend, "You couldn't have waited a little bit?"

"This is my swamp."

"You. Are. Gross."

* * *

**_A week later ~ Midoriya Residence_ **

* * *

The last week before the UA Exams had been a lot calmer than Izuku had expected especially when you took into consideration the way it had started. It had flown past under a pile of textbooks, push-ups and an absurd amount of food from his mother.

Since they were all minors, the police report had been sealed and Tsukauchi had given Izuku's mom and Bakugou's parents a simplified explanation. He had not mentioned Izuku's 'Quirk' which was something Izuku was thankful for.

Apparently, Bakugou had chosen not to say anything about it either as despite his mother spending a ton of time on the phone with Mitsuki, the issue never came up. It did make sense. Bakugou would probably try to see it for himself first hand before doing anything else.

Izuku had chosen not to do too much physical conditioning beyond the bare necessary to keep his body in good shape. He couldn't go full out this week or he'd be exhausted and competing against other students who were fresh and well-rested.

Izuku practically lived at home for the whole week. Only leaving the apartment to go for a run to clear his head. The furthest he'd gone from his house was to retrieve the rods he'd made against Sludge.

They were surprisingly easy to find almost as if he had a sixth sense of sorts guiding him. As he walked away from the mall, the construction crew had arrived to repair the damage done to the mall. Hopefully, they would take the litany of rocks destroyed in different ways as a byproduct of the fight and nothing more.

He did not make the mistake of dispelling them by channelling his chakra into them. This meant that unlike his escrima sticks, he could not use the Surface Sticking to keep them in his hands.

Where the chakra rods(for lack of a better term) had a leg up on his escrima sticks was that they were amazingly durable and light. He hadn't been able to put a scratch on them even when using a kunai.

If he could somehow make more of whatever that metal was then it would probably come in handy. Perhaps he could get a Support company to lace it or the metal from the kunai into his hero suit or something. It never hurt to be more durable.

Well, he had actually made himself more durable when fighting Sludge-Bakugou. He could reinforce his body, but Sludge lacked Bakugou's skill with his Quirk. Bakugou could probably punch through Izuku if he were so inclined.

The good news was that he could eventually make a defensive jutsu. One that was less apparent than some of the ones in the Scroll. An invisible chakra shield would be less obvious than rock skin after all. A chakra shield would have come in handy today.

It was that thought that made Izuku remember what the goal for today was.

He had to pass and he had to pass in style. Within the constraints of his allowed arsenal that was.

Nervous energy buzzed and crawled underneath Izuku's skin. This was make-or-break. He had not applied to any alternatives to UA because there were no alternatives. If he stumbled at this obstacle then it wouldn't bode well for his future as a hero, chakra or no.

"Izuku!" his mother said knocking on his door, "You're gonna be late if you don't get into the shower now!"

It was enough to draw from his thoughts and he gave a reply to his mother before getting undressed. They had to be there by 12:30 which was half an hour before the start of the theory exam. They'd receive more information and an actual debriefing at the examination centre.

Izuku popped into the bathroom and to his surprise, the shower was already running and very hot. His toothbrush and toothpaste were also set to the side of the sink. It must have been his mom that did this.

Clearly, she just wanted him to worry about the exam only.

While it could wait for after the exam, Izuku decided to give her peace of mind. It was the least she deserved after the tumultuous events they'd both gone through in the past year.

* * *

Inko watched as Izuku slowly picked at his food. She could tell he was nervous, but she wasn't sure what to say to motivate him. She didn't even broach the topic of the Sludge villain beyond making sure her son was okay.

After Izuku had failed, she had never thought they'd be in this situation. She'd done her research. None of the heroes that were officially ranked were Quirkless. It was practically an oxymoron to have a Quirkless Hero.

She'd given up on her son's dream not long after finding that out. Izuku had always been withdrawn, but maybe she should have realised that her actions had been shameful at best and debilitating at worst.

How did it feel to have no one believe you could reach your goal? How did you keep the same passion and drive when you faced ridicule and derision at every turn? How did you not give up?

These were the questions Inko had been stewing on for long now.

Izuku had become fixated on UA following their trip to the resort. He ate more, studied more, exercised more and slept _less._ It drove her up the wall when he'd stay out late, but she did her best to never show it to him.

She'd already let him down once before. She did not want to pile onto the pressure he was already putting himself under. So she tried her best to keep a sunny disposition so that Izuku could only worry about himself.

She was lucky to have a sympathetic ear from Mitsuki who was going through the same thing with Bakugou. He also stayed out late and worked himself to the bone. Inko knew that their sons' personalities didn't mesh, but it was deeply ironic that they mirrored each other in this aspect.

She never wanted to hurt her son. Any sane mother would do the same or so she had thought.

Now after taking into account the resort trip, Izuku's rigorous training and now the Sludge villain debacle, she had to wonder just whose feelings she was trying to spare.

Izuku's or her own?

"M-Mom?" Izuku said and she looked at her son to see his hands fidgeting ever so slightly, "I have something to tell you."

Why did he seem so nervous?

She reached across the table to still his hand, "Just take a deep breath, Izuku. Whatever it is, you can tell me."

She did mean that. She couldn't let what was plaguing Izuku ruin his exam. Not after all she had done, albeit inadvertently, to railroad his confidence.

"C-Can I just a get few moments to, uh, steady myself?" Izuku said and she nodded immediately.

Inko had something she had to get off her chest herself and she hoped that what she had to say would help Izuku to open up.

"I actually had something I wanted to say to you before you left," Inko said causing Izuku's eyes to widen and he stared at her in surprise.

"I don't think I've been fair to you," Inko began as she stared off towards a corner, "I gave up on your dream without thinking about just how much it would affect you."

With a heavy heart, she recalled their argument a few months ago. 

"You've been working so hard. You're ranked second in your year, you've gotten so much bigger and you beat a strong villain just a week ago," Inko said and she smiled as Izuku blushed heavily.

It reminded Inko of herself. They were both terrible at receiving praise.

"What I'm trying to say that is that I'm sorry," Inko said finally, "As a parent, I'm supposed to do what's best for you and I failed to do that when it came to this. Izuku, I just want you to know that Quirk or no Quirk, I _know_ you'll blow the competition away. That's how amazing you are."

Tears had begun to leak from her eyes from the catharsis of just laying all that on the table. She quickly wiped them away only for them to return as she saw tears begin to leak from Izuku's eyes as well.

"Thank you so much, mom. That really means a lot," Izuku said and he took a deep breath before wiping away his tears, "I think I'm ready to tell you now."

A confused silence settled over Inko as Izuku rose from his seat and walk towards the wall. Inko was about to speak, but she felt her words escape her as Izuku then walked _up_ a wall.

"You, uhm, I—" Inko shook her head, "How? When?"

"Since the trip," Izuku said and it was almost as if a lightbulb went off in her head, "I can use this strange energy to do a lot of things. I want to tell you everything, but even I'm not sure what the limits are."

"You're not sure?" Inko said as she felt a flutter in her stomach, "Is it that powerful?"

"I think so," Izuku said as he walked back to her, "I want to keep what I can do under wraps until I don't have to anymore. I don't know when that will be, but hopefully, it's soon. I just _had_ to tell you before this test. I _should_ have done it earlier and—"

Inko cut her son off as she pulled him into a tight hug, "It's okay, Izuku. I understand why you didn't tell me and it's fine. Don't worry about not doing it sooner. Just focus on passing the exam."

"You're not mad? Or worried?" Inko couldn't blame him for the shock and surprise in his voice.

"I'm not mad and I will _always_ be worried about you," Inko smiled a little, "I trust you to know what's the right thing to do. If you want to keep things a secret then that's what I'll do."

With Izuku going to boarding school, it was time for her to loosen the hold she had on him. He was a good kid and a good person, ultimately she knew that he deserved her trust and faith. He had for a long time.

"Thank you, mom," Izuku pulled her into a tight hug that she returned just as fiercely. It was the longest hug they'd had in years and it eased the pain in her heart.

"Don't mention it," Inko said before she heard Izuku's stomach growl loudly.

"Now eat your food! You can't get into UA on an empty stomach."

* * *

Izuku had to take a breath to calm himself as his bus slowed to a stop. He picked his bag off the ground as the disembark light lit up. He rose out of his seat and thanked the driver before disembarking.

He checked his phone to see the time and he calmed down a bit as he saw that time hadn't sped up. It was 11:35 so just under an hour from when check-in would begin. It should take him less than 10 minutes to trek up the hill to UA according to the internet.

As he looked up at the hill in the nearby distance, Izuku wasn't so sure.

The school overlooked the rest of Musutafu and while the view was probably great from up there, it was daunting from down here. He knew it would probably violate a lot of safety codes if UA were in the city, but putting it all the way at top of this hill was a bit much.

No public transportation would go up the hill and so Izuku was resigned to having to trudge up to the top. Although, that would not have mattered for today at the very least.

Izuku turned the final corner before the hill and he was greeted by the sight of a roadblock. It was blocking the only road leading up to UA and there were a _lot_ of people upset by this news.

Cars had been forced to park everywhere and it was a congested mess that Izuku had to weave through. He finally made it to the roadblock and there was a queue he had to go through before going through the access gate.

This was probably just to strong-arm overly eager parents into staying far from UA. The school liked their secrecy like that.

He let his eyes wander for a bit as he took in his fellow examinees. The first person that he saw stuck out among everyone there. It was hard to tell, but he had to be close to two metres tall. Izuku was convinced he was a parent until he saw two older-looking people wrap him in a hug.

Well, then, that was a little terrifying.

Izuku kept scanning the crowd and every now and then. Mutations had dispelled any notions if a standard human template, so to speak. Even then, they were still amazing to see. Some mutations were directly linked to Quirks like with Gang Orca.

There was also the chance that the mutations were simply inherited and the Quirk was something else entirely. It was a difficult prospect to guess the Quirk of someone with a different body.

That only got worse with people that looked ordinary though. Could they control shadows or summon black holes or detach their limbs? All in all, there was a lot of room for uncertainty. He had no idea if they would face each other, but it surely couldn't hurt to start scouting.

The queue was moving terribly slowly and Izuku eventually got bored of trying to guess the Quirks of those around him. Plus, he was getting a few glares from some of those who had caught him staring.

A short boy with peculiar purple hair had looked downright horrified at Izuku's stare. 

"Excuse me," said a deep voice.

He was drawn from that dark line of thinking as someone cut in line in front of him. Great. Izuku simply let the person be since it wasn't that big of a deal. It had _nothing_ to do with it being a girl judging from her...spiky, orange ponytail.

Izuku sighed.

"Were you really going to let me cut in front of you like that?" Kendou said as she turned back to Izuku, "I've failed you as a teacher."

"I knew it was you the entire time," Izuku said confidently but it crumbled underneath a raised brow from Kendou, "...I don't like conflict."

"I don't know about that," Kendou said her voice dripping sarcasm, "You've done a number on my body more times than I can count."

A woman who was walking by froze in her tracks as she caught the last of Kendou's words. Kendou was looking elsewhere and so Izuku alone received the most judgemental state of his life thus far.

The lady tutted before walking off, "What has the world come to?"

"Ok, so change of subject," Izuku said quickly as he fought to suppress a blush, "How ready are you?"

"As much as I can be," Kendou said as they moved forward in line, "This month was torture. My dad really worked me to the bone. I probably ran through enough ice packs to build an igloo. It _sucked_. The only bright side was being able to punch his lights out when I was allowed to attack."

Well, then. Kendou was still Kendou.

"It's not all bad though," Kendou said losing the edge in her voice, "I _know_ you learnt some crazy, new stuff too. There's no way we lose! Not to these people! Look at them! I bet you could knock most of them out with one hit!"

Did she have to say that so loud?

"What did she say?!"

"I'm coming after you, carrot top!"

"That green kid too. I'm gonna go straight for him in the exam!"

The gate clacked open as they were drowned under a litany of curses from nearby people.

Izuku said nothing as he looked at Kendou.

"...Sorry?" Kendou said looking down at the ground as she averted her gaze, "I guess I got a bit too excited."

"It's okay," Izuku said with a heavy sigh as they walked through the gates, "What's done is done."

"Awesome! Now let's go!" Kendou said her expression shifting back to a cheery disposition, "I want to beat the rest of these losers to the top!"

"I'm gonna squash him like a bug!"

Izuku sighed.

"...This one's on me."

* * *

Kendou and Izuku had split after they were finally allowed into UA. She wanted to use the bathroom as well as call her dad so they had decided it would be best if they just went their separate ways for now.

Izuku was still feeling a bit nervous as the time approached. Had he studied enough? Had he trained enough? Kendou seemed so confident not only in herself but in him too.

The same went for his mother. She hadn't been upset nor had she pried when she found out about his Quirk. He had expected anything, but such a casual show of faith.

It made him happy that they both believed in him, but he was still worried that he'd let them down somehow. Izuku shook his head to dispel those thoughts.

He had to believe in himself. He didn't quit after falling into that river, he didn't quit when he fought criminals and he didn't quit when facing Sludge. He wouldn't quit now.

"I'm...this. You.. to her. Why—"

Suddenly, Izuku caught snippets of a nearby conversation from around the corner. It was en-route the only way to the examination centre and so he unintentionally began to listen in on what seemed to be a private conversation.

Did this count as eavesdropping?

"I have told you this before," said a tall girl with a spiky ponytail into her phone. She stood off to the side of the path and her bag was at her feet, "I know what I am doing."

"Please tell Uncle that I am grateful for the recommendation. I truly am. However, I have been working hard to get in the traditional way. The way dad got in."

Okay, this was none of his business. Izuku tried to fly under the radar as he walked by the girl. He wouldn't want anyone to overhear and so he began to hurry past unfortunately in his haste to walk past he managed to kick her bag a fair distance away.

To make things worse, the sound of ripping fabric tore through the air as the bag got shredded by the thorn bush it landed in.

"Oh—mother, I will call you after the test," the girl said before hanging up and turning to him with a scowl, "You ruined my bag!"

"I'm so sorry!" Izuku said as he picked the rather ornate bag up from the bush and he frowned as he saw the state it was in, "It was an accident! I'll pay you back. Please tell me this isn't expensive! Not that I wouldn't pay you back, but—"

"Oh, there is no need to worry. It was not expensive at all," the girl said flippantly causing him to let out a sigh of relief, "I believe this was about seven hundred thousand yen."

Izuku just about swallowed his own tongue, "S-S-Seven h-hundred t-t-thousand?!"

The girl seemed to misinterpret his shock, "A rather good deal, no? Seven hundred thousand is rather cheap for one of Uwabami's exclusive designs. In any case, we should exchange contact information to make replacing this easier unless you have your cheque book on hand?"

A cheque book? Could he get away with giving her Bakugou's number? Probably not. It was tempting, though.

"I-I can't afford that!" Izuku said as he handed the bag back to the girl, "Seven hundred thousand is way too much!"

Who _was_ this girl? Seven hundred thousand wasn't spare change.

"You are the one who damaged it," the girl reminded him with a glare, "What do you suggest we do now? Are you not able to reimburse me? You ruined it completely. There are only seven like it!"

"I-I don't think I can," Izuku said with a heavy sigh, "The only reason I kicked it was because it was in the middle of the path. I could pay it back eventually, but not immediately..."

The influx of cash from all his interviews had to be saved. It would go a long way to moving out of the apartment and not having to deal with the stupid stairs. 

The girl took a deep breath before sighing, "You know what? Let us just move on from this. I should not have left my bag in the path. I was rather attached to this one, but I should be able to get another one just like it."

Weren't there only six of those?

"Are you sure? Because I can cover some of the cost?"

If he sold his kidney.

"I am sure," the girl said letting out a huff before she tucked the bag underneath her arm, "You have done _quite_ enough. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a call to make."

That had been an uncomfortable experience. Ugh, why did he come down this road? Oh, right. It was because this was the only route to the examination centre.

Izuku stayed in the same spot until he was sure the girl was _far_ away from him. There was no need to rock the boat, after all. Most other kids would have probably strong-armed him into paying for the bag, but she did not despite how mad she had been. What was a kid his age doing with a bag like that? Honestly, she barely even looked his age. If it were not for her uniform, she probably could have passed for an adult.

Well, it was either that or Izuku was seriously underdeveloped.

Izuku banished those thoughts as he continued down the path. He hoped he hadn't used up all his good luck for the day on his previous encounter. He'd need some luck especially if all of those people Kendou had offended came after them.

Ugh, why was he friends with her again? Other than her being pretty cool? Oh, right. It was because no one else his age would give the time of day.

Izuku turned one last corner and finally spotted the examination centre. He noticed a slowly growing crowd around a notice board and he assumed that it had his seat number. Before he dove into the crowd, though, someone pulled on his bag and dragged him out of the mess.

"What the—"

"Relax. I found your seat for you," Kendou said appearing out of nowhere, "303. It was sorted by schools and Aldera was right at the top. I'm at 278 so we're pretty close to each other."

"How did you get here before me? I didn't see you on the path..."

He had left her behind a few minutes ago and he hadn't seen her pass him.

"You didn't think there was just one way to get here, did you?" Kendou raised a brow at him, "You totally did, didn't you? This school is _huge._ How would that make _any_ sense."

He wasn't answering that.

"Was dragging me backwards like that really necessary?" Izuku said trying to change the topic, "You could have just tapped me on the shoulder like a normal person."

Kendou brought a hand to her chest and was about to open her mouth, but Izuku beat her to the punch.

"Yeah, that's one on me. Let's just go inside. I have had enough weirdness for today."

He knew Kendou's deal by now. Questioning things would only make his head hurt.

"I feel like I should hit you for that," Kendou said as she narrowed her eyes at him and Izuku chose not to say anything.

He really didn't need to give her an actual reason to punch him and she _would_ do it. He kept his eyes looking forward even as he sensed Kendou staring at him from the corner of his eye.

Weirdly, as they got closer to the hall, the stress that had been plaguing him began to ebb. He just wanted to get down to business. There was no fidgeting or stuttering or sweating or anything like that,

Between his mother accepting his Quirk so readily, getting on the bad side of a few people thanks to Kendou as well accidentally destroying a prohibitively expensive bag, there was nothing more this day could throw at him that he couldn't handle.

Absolutely nothing.

"Oh, yeah. Do you know a Katsuki Bakugou? He's from your school and he has the seat right next to you. Did you know he was gonna be here?"

He really shouldn't have been surprised.

* * *

**Jutsu List:**

**Fatebreaker: A chakra enhancement technique Izuku developed from the Body Flicker. It boosts the explosive capabilities of the user's muscles ie sprinting, striking, jumping etc. The degree of the boost is dependant on the amount of chakra used. If one uses too much chakra then control is lost resulting in the deactivation of the technique.**

* * *

**Author Notes:**

**Don't worry. I'm off my high horse/soapbox now lol. I just wanted to respond to a couple of people in one go.**

**700 000 yen is about 7000 USD today. It was 2500 USD in 1982. BNHA is in the future. So, if the yen continued on a trend like that then you _know_ that damn bag was mad expensive.**

**The rabbit is out of the hat, sort of. Izuku is now known to have _a_ Quirk, but All Might and Toshinori are onto him. Lucky him. ** **I had so much fun with this chapter between the fights, dialogue and all that jazz. Thanks for the continued response to the story. This is officially my most popular fic and we're just 7 chapters in so thank you to all of you.**

**Question of the day for here or on discord: What ship do you want to see? (and yes there is a hip/romantic subplot. Sorry Gen lovers.) I only read a handful of BNHA fics before starting this and unlike the other fandoms I'm in, I've no clue what the people are into. It won't necessarily affect the actual ship or anything, but my interest I piqued.**

**Finally, The first OC competition is officially open. What do YOU think Izuku's hero costume should be? I have a few in mind, but if any of you have anything cooler you've got to shoot your shot. Full credit will always be given. Please do try to join the discord server instead of putting the OC stuff in the comment section on FFN or on AO3. It makes it a lot easier to respond to you guys.**

**Server: discord. gg/ Ty68TdCDu6 (remove spaces)**


	8. "He needed a name."

**Happy Holidays!**

* * *

Despite having tempted fate, Izuku's day did not get terribly worse despite having to sit next to Bakugou. Bakugou had a combative personality most of the time, but when it came to important stuff he'd knuckle down and get to it.

The exam definitely qualified as such.

Bakugou had not acknowledged Izuku at all after arriving at his seat. They waited in rather awkward silence as the examination centre filled up. More than a few times, Izuku had almost gone to Kendou's seat which was at the start of his row.

He had not done that. It would probably only fuel Bakugou's anger if Izuku tried to avoid him. Well, if he tried avoiding him more than the _usual_ amount, that was. He wasn't a masochist after all.

The rules of the test were explained by Cementoss and after a short geek-out, he was reprimanded by a tall boy in glasses. Thankfully, most people were too invested in the upcoming test to care all that much about that incident.

He would have gotten a lot more attention if it happened at Aldera and not the good kind of attention.

Beyond that though, the first part of the exam was uneventful. Papers were handed, pencils sharpened and circles scribbled. It was a hard test, naturally, but Izuku knew he had done well. Theory tests had always been one of his talents and that didn't change here.

After the theory test, Present Mic had begun to explain the rules of the practical test before answering various questions. Izuku had _not_ geeked out this time. The rules were simple. Destroy different enemies scattered across an urban landscape for points.

Izuku knew he held an advantage over the average person. The Fatebreaker boosted his speed a whole lot and he'd be running at the cusp of 100%. He had no idea of how fast or strong the robots were so it was better if he just blitzed them outright.

"Oh, before I forget!" Present Mic said having apparently finished answering questions, "There's another enemy that's worth zero points. It's like an arena trap. It's not worth thinking about now and will only be a problem for some of you. Just focus on getting as many points as possible! Now go get changed!"

"A zero-pointer huh?" Bakugou said before glancing over at Izuku, "That sounds like something that's _right_ on your level, Deku."

Okay, so Bakugou wasn't staying quiet any longer. He was probably just excited about the practical exam. Or not that nice of a person...both.

"Check the buses in the parking lot for your names! People from the same school won't be together!" Present Mic all but screamed into his mic.

Well, that was _great_ news.

They were dismissed after that and everyone began to shuffle out the hall. Bakugou, in a fit of impatience, had simply hopped from row to row until he was near the front. By the time he walked out the hall, Izuku wasn't even out of his row.

He was about to follow when he heard a voice call out to him, "Hey Izuku! Over here!"

Kendou was waving her hands over her head. She was barely visible through the throng of people going down the stairs, but eventually, he was able to make it to her. It was a good thing too as she grabbed onto him and pulled him _up_ the staircase.

They got to the top after a few moments of fighting against the current. Her grip had been pretty strong and Izuku had been dragged along like a leaf in the wind. He could have put up more resistance, but that was generally just more trouble than it was worth with Kendou.

It turned out the hall had multiple exits at the top, but surprisingly that wasn't where Kendou was forcing him to go. There was a long hallway adjacent to the last exit and when they turned down that way Izuku finally realised where they were going.

"Why didn't you just say they had bathrooms up here?"

"And ruin the surprise? No ways," Kendou said as she stood with her hands on her hips, "All the other bathrooms are gonna be packed. We can change quickly here _and_ beat everyone to the buses. Now shoo!"

As he always seemed to do around Kendou, Izuku sighed heavily but ultimately obeyed. He went into the men's side and changed out of his uniform and into a green tracksuit and running shoes. These were by a fair distance some of his more comfortable clothing.

The tracksuit was pretty old, but that worked for him for today at least. He was pretty sure that this exam wasn't something you'd take in clothes you wanted to keep clean. Plus, he had his full range of motion in these clothes so it was a win-win.

He took his chakra rods out of his bag and put his uniform and stationery back inside. He was out of the bathroom not even two minutes after he had first entered. He took his phone out and saw an interesting notification, but he put it away as Kendou walked out.

"A tracksuit? Aren't you going to burn up?" She had gone for shorts and a shirt instead of a tracksuit, "That looks really hot."

"I-I'll be fine," Izuku said even as he adjusted his collar, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's head—" Kendou cut herself off as she looked towards his feet, "What are those?"

He looked down before the realisation hit him. She meant the chakra rods. As far as she knew, he was still using normal escrima sticks. He'd never told her about the chakra rods. 

"These are just my new escrima sticks," Izuku said as he picked them off the floor and he offered one to Kendou, "You can check it out if you want."

She took up the offer and went through a few motions with it, "Wow, this is light, like _really_ light. Can this actually do any damage?"

Before he could stop her, Kendou swung the rod at the wall at full strength. The rod ploughed a large hole into the wall kicking up a cloud of dust and debris. To make matters worse, water began to spew into the hallway from the wall.

"Oh, crap," Kendou said as she took in the damage she had caused.

The water sprayed all over them getting their legs and shoes wet. The flow didn't seem to show any signs of stopping either which just made the situation all the worse.

"We should probably move, right?"

Izuku's look was enough of an answer.

It was a certainty that UA had an advanced system to check for failures like this so they had to leave while they still could. They all but ran out of the examination centre and then once they were far away enough, they tried to act natural.

As natural as you could look with wet pants, that was.

Thankfully, no one really paid them any attention and they breathed a little easier once they had dried out. The buses were in view and thankfully they had beaten the crowds once again.

"Can we just bury that and never tell anyone?" Kendou asked her cheeks a bit red, "That wasn't my best moment."

"That's fine by me," Izuku said and despite himself, a smile began to break out on his face, "I don't need anyone else to know to make fun of you for it."

"It was an accident!" Kendou pleaded as she held up the rod in her hand, "Is this thing like a fancy gadget or something? I'd hate to be on the end of this...you only need one for the exam, right?"

"You didn't register any weapons, so I can't help you," Izuku reminded Kendou causing her to pout, "N-Not that you need it or anything. You're strong enough to crush those robots! Believe it!"

"This is getting too easy now," Kendou said as she handed him the rod back, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, though. This being a thirty-minute test is kinda freaking me out. They always used to be just ten minutes."

"You'll be fine," Izuku reassured her, "You've kept your Quirk active longer than that and you're almost as fit as me. If I can handle it then you can too."

"Since when are you fitter than me?"

"Since I activated my Quirk," Izuku said and he enjoyed the way Kendou's eyes widened.

"Your _what_?!" Kendou screamed in his face as she shook him back and forth, "You ass! I thought you were Quirkless or had something lame so I was too scared to ask!"

Izuku could have sworn she was trying to give him whiplash. He ignored that, though, for the more important tidbit.

"You were scared?"

That didn't sound like Kendou at all.

"Yes," Kendou said as she shoved him back, "It's rude to ask about Quirks unprompted. I've been wondering when you were gonna tell me."

This was just like with his mother, wasn't it?

"I should have told you sooner," Izuku conceded drawing a nod from Kendou, "It's just like a power-up Quirk. I can use the energy to boost stuff like my speed, strength and jumping."

"An energy? Where does it come from? Does it affect your body? What do you call it? Have you ever used it against me? What else can it do?"

The barrage of questions from Kendou left Izuku tongue-tied. He didn't want to lie to Kendou, but then again he was already lying by omission, wasn't he? Thankfully, he didn't dig his grave any deeper as Kendou seemed to sense his unease.

"That was a bit much, wasn't it?" she asked rubbing the back of her neck, "I guess you've been rubbing off on me a lot."

Was he that bad when it came to Quirks? No, he was probably, no, he was way worse. Kendou's curiosity was nothing compared to how he'd react if the roles were reversed.

He'd probably be scribbling a ton of stuff in his notebook too.

"Maybe just a little," Izuku said as he smiled a little, "Let's just try to find our buses. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll be in the same zone."

"Why? Do you need someone to hold your hand?"

And she was back.

There were nine buses and thankfully there wasn't much of a crowd. They went through the lists taped to the buses before finally coming across the first of their names.

"Itsuka Kendou, zone number 5," Kendou said before continuing down the list, "It's just me. Sorry Izuku, but you're on your own for this one."

A vaguely familiar boy with strange purple hair joined them as he began to look for his name. The boy was rather short and so it was a bit comical to see him strain to read the list. Kendou smirked at him causing his own lips to quiver slightly.

Kendou must have been rubbing off on him. He would have never found the boy's plight even slightly funny before he had met her. Now, he felt like he was on the verge of bursting into laughter.

"Well, uh, it's probably for the best," Izuku said as he stepped aside to give the other boy a better view of the list. Plus, it meant Izuku wouldn't struggle as much to suppress his laughter.

"You got quite a few people mad at us at the gate. They would go berserk if they saw us together." Izuku said to Kendou as he finally got back in control of himself, "They seemed really mad. At both of us."

This was despite the fact that Kendou had done all the talking and he'd just been an innocent bystander. How was that even fair?

"If those guys can't handle some competitive banter then they're weaker than I thought," Kendou said as she stood at the entry to the bus.

Thankfully, none of them were around.

She eyed the chakra rods in his hands and smiled sweetly, "Are you sure you can't give me your rod? That thing is awesome! I doubt anyone here would care."

The short boy between them let out a cough startling Izuku. He looked down at the boy to see him wiping saliva away from his mouth.

Weird.

Who came to an exam while they were sick?

"I think you had enough fun with it back at the bathroom," Izuku said and this time he managed to ignore the coughing fit that the other boy was having, "You've done enough damage for the day."

"Fine," Kendou groaned out half-seriously, "I'll take that bad boy for a spin after the exam and maybe for the next few days so don't lose it! I still can't believe you were hiding something so cool from me!"

The crowds were coming in and so Izuku and Kendou said their last goodbyes and well wishes. Once Kendou was inside the bus, Izuku was about to walk off when he felt a hand wrap itself around her wrist.

He turned back to see the boy from earlier. His cheeks were red and his eyes seemed rather bloodshot. What was someone so sick doing at UA's exams? He was in no shape to compete.

"Uh, can I help you?"

"How long have you known that ba—, uh, girl?" the boy said and it took a few seconds before the penny dropped in Izuku's mind.

Did he mean Kendou?

"Kendou? Just a few months," Izuku said betraying nothing even as he felt just a touch uncomfortable, "She's my sparring partner, but we've gotten really close after she gave me her number."

" _She_ gave _you_ her number?." the boy's tone and facial expression only increased Izuku's discomfort, "What about the 'rod' thing? Tell me all about that..."

Izuku wasn't really hurt by the number thing. He had freaked out at the time too. The chakra rod thing though...why did Kendou bring that up? He had to keep things vague or else they'd probably get a pretty big property damage fine.

"She was just messing around with it and things ended up getting a bit messy," Izuku gestured to the drying wet marks on his pants with his chakra rod, "We kinda had to bail before we got caught in the examination hall."

"I'm in the presence of a legend!" the boy breathed out as he took Izuku's hand in both of his, "Your name's Izuku, right? That's what she called you."

Izuku _really_ wanted to get to his bus before the crowds arrived, but he was just too polite to walk off mid-conversation. So, he decided to just wrap this odd chat up as quickly (and politely) as he could.

"Yes, but most people call me Midoriya."

Well, technically, most people called him Deku, but he didn't need to tell this guy that. It would add an unnecessary facet to what was already an uncomfortable conversation.

"Of course! Only your girl gets to call you that. Idiot!" the boy said slapping his forehead, "My name is Mineta. I hope we both get into UA so I can learn from a master like you! You're my hero!"

 _His_ girl?

"Thank you?" Izuku wasn't sure what the other boy meant by it, but he was pretty sure he didn't want to know, "Uh, Mineta. I need to go now. I still haven't found my bus."

"Oh, yeah!" Mineta said as he stepped away from Izuku, "You go on ahead! I'll make sure no one messes with your girl!"

That was nice of him...right?

Before he could respond, though, Mineta had bowed deeply and then he went inside Kendou's bus. Probably to sit right next to her too.

He felt like texting Kendou a warning about how odd the boy, but then he remembered the number of people Kendou had pissed off at the gate.

It was time to find his seat.

Kendou could deal with that headache on her own.

* * *

As it turned out, Izuku was the first to get to his bus. It was the one at the very end and to his dismay, he noticed that it was larger than the other buses by quite a bit.

There was the chance that this was down to luck, but Izuku knew better than that. He'd checked the list to make sure too. Whereas every other bus could only take up to 20 people, his bus had enough room for 40 people.

What the hell had he done to deserve this?

"It doesn't matter that you'll have double the competition of everyone else," Izuku said to himself as he sat down about halfway down the line, "Just focus on beating as many enemies as you can."

He'd have to run the Fatebreaker very close to its limit. He would basically be sprinting from place to place for about 30 minutes. The chakra vitalisation really cut down on his lactic acid production so he'd probably be fine, but the longest he had ever kept it active for was 15 minutes. And that was on the lower levels.

It wasn't a matter of _if_ he could do it, Izuku was dead certain that his control was good enough for that. He was more concerned about the ramifications. Could his muscles take that long of a sustained punishment? It could even be like on the Rooftop Garden against Sludge.

His vision had whited out randomly when Sludge had tried to kill Bakugou. Nothing like that had ever happened to him before. The only comparable thing to it was when he had saved Sumire as Kage.

He had just manifested the chakra rods out of nowhere. Was there something he was missing?

Out of a blend of boredom and a niggling worry, Izuku went to Sumire's website once more. Kage's section was easy to find and he located the video of the oldest post on the website.

The fight went exactly the same as he remembered it, but he paused at the part where Sumire was being held, hostage. The chakra coming off him was _purple_ and Izuku knew his chakra was _always_ blue.

It definitely meant something, but Izuku wasn't sure _what_.

Hiruzen's scroll was a goldmine of information about the usages of chakra, but he had seen no mention of chakra changing colour or random abilities manifesting. The closest he could think of were vague references to something called bloodline limits.

Thinking of the scroll brought up an important question. One he had been pondering for months on end.

How had a city of super-soldiers just died out? A lot of sections in Konoha had been inaccessible to both him and the archaeologists, but the shocking thing was that were no corpses at all. There were _clothes_ in Konoha that had survived all this time for crying out loud.

The entire place might have just been abandoned, but that didn't sit right with him. Samsara Resort had been revamped from nothing and as far as the island's residents were concerned it had always been abandoned.

The island had bountiful resorts and some of the best weather in the entire world. Who or what could chase away an entire civilisation armed with chakra?

And Konoha citizens being chased away was the tame option. After all, chakra was hereditary and Izuku was pretty damn sure he was the only on Earth to have chakra. If no had chakra, it had either been bred out by more dominant genes or it had never been passed down by the last generation.

He was drawn from his thoughts as a student walked into the bus. Izuku actually recognised him. It was the boy with the glasses who had stopped his geek-out over Cementoss.

Izuku expected the boy to have some antagonistic comment ready or something, but instead, the boy nodded at him before taking a seat at the very front.

"Good day."

Maybe he should stop expecting the worst from people?

The bus filled up quite quickly after that. Since they were all pretty much strangers, everyone sat in their own row, but that inevitably became impossible as more people arrived.

There was some chatter as people began to make small talk with the people near them. Izuku decided to keep to himself as he tried to think of a game plan.

He could probably scour the city clean if he ran the Fatebreaker at full power. He doubted there was anyone here who could keep up with him at that speed and even if there was they were probably in the severe minority.

The bus was mostly full now with a few empty seats remaining. Izuku had two empty seats beside him. Apparently, no one had wanted to sit next to him. On one hand, he was grateful for the extra space.

On the other hand, what the hell?

As if his thoughts tempted fate, another person walked into the bus. A girl. A familiar girl. A very familiar girl whose very, very expensive bag he had ruined earlier. The same bag she was clutching in her arms.

"Anywhere but here," Izuku muttered under his breath hoping against hope that she'd choose one of the other seats.

She had garnered a lot of attention by simply standing at the front of the bus. Whispers and murmurs rose up as people took in the girl standing at the front.

"That's the girl I was talking about! She finished her test in like fifteen minutes tops! Either she's super smart or just _really_ dumb."

"That bag is one of Uwabami's. Who brings something like that to an exam?"

"I told you I read the list correctly! You can just _tell_ she's one of them."

"Hey, sweetie! You can sit right here."

"What the hell is she wearing?"

Izuku wasn't sure if the people It was probably a mix of brashness and trying to get into the girl's head. She did seem very assured of herself and confident even dressed in short shorts and a sports bra.

Izuku had swum with a shirt on until he was nine.

Inevitably, though, her eyes settled on the empty seats next to him before they panned to meet his gaze. Izuku froze in his place as she nodded to herself before walking down the passage between the seats.

Surely, that had been a coincidence. Yeah, that was it. There was probably an empty seat somewhere behind him and she was going—

"Pardon me. Are any of these seats taken?"

—sit somewhere else.

"N-No, none of these seats are b-broken," his gaze landed on the tattered and expensive bag, "I mean taken! You can sit down!"

Either out of pity or politeness, he wasn't sure which, she didn't mention his slip up. She sat down on the aisle seat leaving one open seat between them.

Izuku's bags and rods were in-between his legs on the floor and so the girl took the chance to put her bag in the middle seat. She then took a book out of her bag and opened up somewhere in the middle of it.

If Izuku hadn't ruined her bag then maybe this situation would have been fine. As it was, Izuku was tensed up as he waited for the girl to recognise him from before.

Surely, she would have picked another seat if she did remember him?

"Hey, guys!" said a cheery voice and he blinked as he saw a brunette girl standing before them, "Is that seat taken? I really hope not! The crowds were insane and I really need to sit down!"

Izuku looked at the aforementioned seat and the tattered bag atop it, "Uh..."

"Of course," the other girl said as she put away her book and then took her bag, "There you go."

The girl squeezed her way in and shrugged her bag off before sitting down. She was one of the very last to arrive and a few seconds after she had sat down the bus driver came aboard and started the bus up.

"How was the theory exam for you guys?" the bubbly girl said once she was comfortable, "It was kinda tricky for me, but I think I did alright!"

Wait, she was _talking_ to them? 

"It was no less than I expected," the tall girl said and Izuku noticed she sat perfectly straight in her seat, "I finished after twenty minutes. I could have done it faster, but I had to triple-check all my answers."

Did she take _twenty_ minutes for a ninety-minute test? And she _triple-checked_ her test? That was amazing.

"Wow! You must be like a genius or something! Did you even need to study for this thing?"

The two girls sitting next to him delved into a deeper question. If it were any other day, Izuku would be _freaking_ out that two girls were sitting next to him. As it was, he was just trying to sink into his chair and disappear from the taller's girl sight.

How noticeable would a Transformation be? Maybe if he rolled the windows down then the smoke—

"Are you okay?" Izuku was drawn from his thoughts as a hand snapped in front of his face. He traced to see the concerned face of the shorter girl.

"U-Uhm, yeah I'm okay," Izuku's words stumbled out his mouth, "I w-was just strategizing for the Practical. I'm kinda nervous."

Honestly, he was more nervous about the taller girl blowing her fuse, but that detail wasn't necessary.

"If you say so," the girl smiled back at him, "I get like that too sometimes! I can teach you a few breathing exercises if you like? My mom taught them to me a while back."

This girl was nice...like really nice. It was about time he met someone normal! When Kendou was the most normal person you dealt with then there was a serious problem.

"I-I'm fine, but thank you for offering!"

The girl in the middle seat then spent most of her time actually doing said breathing exercises or asking her passengers questions about how their day had been. Nothing too intrusive and by the time they arrived at the testing centre, it felt like barely any time had passed.

"We're here!" she said as she rose to her feet and they had to wait until it was their row's turn to disembark.

They'd only need a few supplies so Izuku took his rods and left his bag. He didn't have time to see what the other had taken as the bus driver signalled them to move. They got off the bus and Izuku was about to walk off when he felt a hand wrap around him.

"Wait!"

Even as his face burnt up, he was able to realise that she was only using four fingers instead of five to grab onto them. It was a common gesture done by those with contact Quirks and he wondered what her Quirk was.

For a second, he was worried it was something that could turn him to a pile of goo with one slip, but that would be deeply at odds with the girl's saccharine personality.

"I totally forgot!" she said as she let go, "What are your names? I'm Ochaco Uraraka and you guys?"

"How rude of me," the taller girl said with her brows furrowed, "My name is Momo."

The lack of a last name caused a bit of an awkward silence as both Izuku and Uraraka waited to hear more. Or maybe it was just him that was feeling awkward from Momo's blank stare.

"Nice to meet you, Momo," Uraraka said once it became clear that Momo was done speaking, "You still have your bag...and it's ripped. What happened?"

"An unfortunate incident," Momo said while giving him a rather unsettling look, "This is not ideal, but I will adapt."

She was using the bag in the exam? As if he didn't feel bad enough already. This was just rubbing salt in the wound.

"What about you?"

"R-Right. Sorry," Izuku felt his cheeks heat up as he was brought back to living. My name is Izuku. Izuku Midoriya."

He heard a gasp and he turned to Momo whose face was twisted in confusion, "I beg your pardon?"

"Do you know him?"

"I am not sure—"

Uraraka's question was left unanswered as Present Mic's voice sounded from the PA system.

"The Practical Exam begins now! Go! Go! Go! Gooooooooooooooo!"

Everyone around Izuku, including Uraraka and Momo, took off towards the testing centre. Izuku took a moment to activate the Fatebreaker at near full power before picking up his chakra rods.

He blew past the crowd of fellow competitors and he gave a glance to the bespectacled boy from before rushing past him too. He heard the whirring of machines nearby and he turned the corner to see three two-pointers.

He tightened his grip on his rods before springing towards them. They were very large, but they moved rather slowly. He dodged the attack of the one closest to him before lashing out with his chakra rod.

The rod cut through the robot with ease and it fell to the ground in a heap. Izuku leapt towards the second and he landed on top of it. He raised both rods before bringing them down in a downward strike.

The robot was crushed in an instant and Izuku was about to leap towards the third one when he saw the boy with the glasses come round the corner. The boy slowed to a stop as he took in the two destroyed robots

He looked at Izuku with wide eyes before turning to the third robot. He tensed up and Izuku could hear the metallic clashing coming from what looked like spoilers on the boy's feet.

Izuku arched his arm and threw the rod at the two-pointer just as the boy kicked off. The rod, to his relief, flew straight and true and punched through the robot with barely any resistance.

The boy skidded to a stop as he took in the state of his former target. He fixed Izuku with a look before running off. Izuku scrambled to get his rods and he sped off at full speed.

Tendrils of chakra punctuated his every step as he sprinted past other competitors who were jockeying for positions and robots. There was still a whole city to explore and Izuku knew he was fast enough to beat everyone to most places.

He stopped in front of a fake bank and it was almost as if the universe had smiled upon him in that very moment. A cluster of all three robots was moving around the street before they turned to face him.

"3...5...11...17...19 points."

That was really good. 19 points would be—

"Magnifique!" A voice said before a beam destroyed one of the robots, "Merci beaucoup, monsieur. You are a great decoy!"

Okay, so it was 16 points now.

Still good.

"Au revoir, mon ami!"

Was that French? And did that guy just fly away with a belly button laser?

* * *

When Toshinori had volunteered to help Present Mic, Nezu and Power Loader plan the practical exam, he had almost felt guilty at how eagerly they listened to his suggestions.

Almost.

The robots were supposed to be easy to deal with which _appeared_ to be the case for the most part. The one-pointers were all speed and not much offence. They were programmed to corral students away from more valuable points.

They were the most common and the easiest to disable with their switches being rather accessible. However, they were a trap. Even if a student destroyed 30 of them, they'd be unlikely to make the top 50.

The two-pointers were almost the opposite. They were very slow but were a pain to destroy for the average competitor. It would take multiple blows to bust through one without enhanced strength and going for the disable button was difficult unless your Quirk was geared towards it.

"That invisible girl is making this a _lot_ harder than it has to be," said Midnight as she tallied up the score, "Fair warning Aizawa, her score will be a pain the ass to recount and not the good kind either. You can barely see her through the crowds! Let alone hitting the disable switches!"

The two-pointers had, as predicted, proven to be the most popular. Most people didn't move especially hard so once they were tired out by fruitlessly chasing after the one-pointers, they would almost always go for the static two-pointers.

A lot of people did this which meant a lot of people were going around stealing kills or attacking other competitors. An entire street had been bathed in these odd purple balls by a short boy. The contraptions trapped every competitor (and robot) that ventured down there which made them easy to pick off.

That was only one example of ingenious applications of Quirks that were not necessarily made for combat. That being said, the examinees who did have combat-oriented Quirks were definitely the highlights.

The three-pointers were meant to be fast, strong and resilient, but they crumbled in the face of the best examinees' attacks. Toshinori had been assigned a specific zone and he was allowed to pick who he wanted in there based on their Quirks.

He had deliberately picked a competitive field and he had deliberately picked twice as many as necessary. He had to bribe a teacher with an autograph, but in the end, Nezu had approved the list.

The list which included Izuku Midoriya.

Toshinori was reminded of himself a little bit as he watched the boy blitz through robots with shocking speed and strength. He was faster than even the kid with a superspeed mutation and those rods seemed impervious to damage.

The boy had built a considerable lead in his zone that only three other students were remotely close to him. The gravity controller, the speedster and the... conjurer or creator...he wasn't sure which it was.

Of course, with the test being as long as it was, the students began to slow down. The timer signified there being two minutes left and it was then that Nezu presented him the remote which signified the end of the exam. He turned towards Toshinori with an oddly terrifying smile.

"Would you like to do the honours?" the odd animal asked him and he nodded, "Splendid. Hizashi, get the announcement ready and don't forget All Might's addendum!"

None of the other teachers had seemed all too bothered by his proposed alteration. Whether it was out of fear or respect or something else, no one had objected to it at all.

Toshinori took the remote and without hesitation pressed the button. The ground and buildings began to shake in all of the testing zones, but he only had his eye on one zone in particular.

With enough pressure, he'd crack Izuku's walls and that began right here right now.

* * *

Izuku wiped the sweat from his eye as he dodged the rapid attacks of a three-pointer. His chakra system pulsed underneath his skin as he kept the Fatebreaker active at 100%. His body was screaming at him having been pushed past its limits.

He dodged a swipe from the three-pointer, but its arm clipped his rods. They were sent sailing through the air somewhere, but Izuku paid that no heed.

He used Surface Sticking (which he should have still been using on his rods) to cling to the robot. He raised his arms in a hammer blow before bringing them down. There was a screech of metal as his fists crunched up the metal below him.

Electric shocks bit at him as hands got tangled up in the wiring of the machine. This made the robot go berserk as it sped off towards a wall and he leapt off as it went kamikaze on a nearby building.

It exploded in a shower of metal and Izuku breathed heavily as he took some time to cool off. If that three-pointer counted for him then that meant he was now on 117 points.

For about thirty minutes, Izuku had been pushing his muscles to the limit. He could still keep going, but this was the longest time he'd use the Fatebreaker for.

It was great, but there was still a lot to work. It was inefficient since it served as a constant drain on his chakra and even at 100% the effects were not to his liking. Plus, he doubted he could keep it active while using jutsu.

He didn't know any yet, but in the long run, they would be more useful to him than a considerable, but inefficient physical boost. There was a lot to be done to improve it as well as his body.

Izuku was reasonably sure, he was at the top of the hill. He had the luxury of being able to stay ahead of the crowds and so he could beat a lot of robots before someone caught up to him.

He had caught glimpses of the other competitors. Uraraka had destroyed like ten three-pointers in one go and Momo had somehow procured a strange gun with a flared muzzle.

It seemed to be able to discharge anything and he had decided to go somewhere else when she had shot a chain that had cut through 20 points worth of robots in one go. The final standout was the boy with the speed Quirk.

Much like Izuku, he just blitzed robots and then left. He was slower than Izuku, from what he'd seen, but the tradeoff was a much more efficient Quirk. He barely looked out of breath whenever Izuku had found him.

Izuku, in contrast, had begun to feel the burn about ten minutes ago.

"I can still get to 125," Izuku said as he moved towards his chakra rods, "That should be more than enough to—"

Izuku's words died on his lips as the ground began to tremble. He tracked the source to the city centre which was a short distance away from him.

Dust was rising to the sky and buildings began to crack and crumble as the dust cloud rose to the sky. Izuku caught a flash of metallic green before harsh red lights emanated from within the swirling dust.

Eventually, the dust cleared revealing a titanic robot with red lights flashing all over it was revealed. Its hands were big enough to grasp onto buildings like they were walking sticks. It was as wide as the main street and Izuku felt a sense of foreboding as it began to move forward at a deceptively quick speed.

"Attention examinees! This is your arena trap! Think of it as a follow-up exam with a new time limit! If it reaches the edge of the city before every single one of you vacate the area then all of you get a 100% deduction! However, there are bonus points up for grabs so the _best_ way to mitigate that deduction is to run, run, run!"

Izuku felt like fainting as he heard the rules. His zone had _twice_ the amount of people as the others. There was no chance all of them would make it on time. The gates were too far away.

Present Mic seemed to read his mind as he went on.

"Oh, by the way, it should take these things seven minutes to get there! The majority of you are also at least seven minutes away at normal speed from the exit so things are gonna be a bit close...Good luck!"

And somehow it got worse.

Izuku picked up his rods before he sped off towards the main road. He ignored the burning across his body as he sped through the faux city's streets. He slowed to a stop in the main street and he was greeted by pandemonium.

"Out of my way!"

"Move!"

"If you don't get out the way right now—"

"Bring it on, Taserface! I'll beat you to a pulp for those points!"

What the hell were these guys thinking?

* * *

"It seems like your change is a success," Nezu said to All Might, "The examinees are turning against each other for an unknown amount of bonus points. They're putting their selves before those of others."

"It's a near-impossible situation for them," Aizawa said as he looked across the feeds, "The majority of them do not have nearly enough points to pass nor can they reach the gate on their own."

"So they'll need those in an advantageous position to help them escape," Toshinori said continuing from Aizawa's thought, "There are some examinees in there who were going to pass this exam regardless. This added test should be an obstacle for those of strong body, but lacking a strong mind."

Most of them were not aware, but the examinees were all on the same team now. The rescue points up for grabs would help those who weren't necessarily the strongest, but were the most altruistic. A key component of being a hero.

Toshinori had scoped Izuku's current situation. He had the most to lose of them all, but he could also beat everyone to the gate comfortably. It would be illuminating to see what the boy would do.

No matter what he did, though, Toshinori would keep an eye on him. There was no doubt Izuku was smart to see what the actual test was.

No matter how he looked at it, Izuku's power seemed to be a facsimile of One for All. If one took in the strangeness around Izuku's Quirk (or Quirks) it seemed a touch too convenient. Could it be a mere coincidence or was it by design?

* * *

The evacuation of his sector was going poorly. There was a serious bottleneck as everyone tried to go down the main road which was the fastest route by far. Any detours would _massively_ slow them down.

Izuku knew that the people only had just over a seven to cross what was a ten-minute gap. Izuku and a few others could get there on time, but not all of them would and that the issue.

The deduction was a steep one and he doubted the bonus points were enough to get any of them into UA.

Izuku activated Fatebreaker and he bobbed and weaved through the slow-moving traffic. He had to shove his way past quite a few people, but eventually, he made it to the very front.

He sped past those that were at the very front and he spread his arms in front of the crowd to push them back. It worked as soon the crowd caught up with them once more.

"S-Stay back. I've got a plan."

"Get out of the way!"

Izuku tried to plead again, but he got shoved back by an overzealous boy. Clearly, words weren't enough here. Izuku raised a fist that was practically glowing with chakra before punching the ground.

There was a loud burst of air as tremors spread all around him. The road was busted open from the force of the punch and some people even fell over. The crowd were cowed by the show of force and they finally stopped.

Confidence borne from desperation filled him as he called out to them, "Everybody stop!"

On reflex, he had used some chakra to coat his lungs and voice box which resulted in a piercing scream that silenced the crowd. Even the angry boy from earlier had lost his nerve.

"We need to work together!" Izuku shouted to the crowd his arms flailing beside him, "Not all of you are fast enough to reach the gate! Not after fighting all those robots! We need a plan to get to the gate!"

"We all need to pass!" Izuku said as his lungs heaved with exhaustion, "It's all or nothing!"

"What is your genius plan then?" shouted a voice from somewhere in the crowd but he let out a yelp as someone shoved him.

"Let him speak, you jackass!"

Izuku was buoyed by that response and he called out to the crowd, "I need Ochaco Uraraka at the front as well as the guy with the engines in his legs! Oh, and that French guy with the laser!"

The three people in question were let through to the front rather quickly. He took in their condition and he frowned as he saw the state they were in. Sweaty skin, red cheeks and heavy breathing. They were close to collapsing.

They also seemed confused which was understandable given the circumstances.

"I've got a plan to get us all out of here and I'll need your guys' help," Izuku said to the three in front of him but loud enough for the crowd to hear, "If we run then there is no chance any of us make it or pass the exam. This way we all have a better chance. I just need everyone to listen to what I have to say."

"Everyone not over here please form four lines. Try to make them about the same size," Izuku said to the crowd and they did so with haste, "You guys won't have too much to do. So please be patient."

Four groups with nine people each, ten if you included the four at the front. This would have been a lot easier with twenty people. Why was their Sector the full one?

"Uraraka how many people can you lighten at once?"

"I'm not sure," Uraraka said scratching her head, "I've lifted a bunch of cars at the same time before! How many people is that? It kinda made me puke though...for like three minutes. I ate a lot of cake and fruit that day and you could see it all. It went _everywhere_. My mom had to—"

Uraraka trailed off as she caught the looks on everyone's faces. Izuku hadn't been able to hide his grimace and neither could anyone else. The image she had painted was rather graphic, to say the least.

"That's not important! It's just a side-effect of my Quirk," Uraraka said as she cowered under their gaze, "It's not _that_ bad."

"Can you use your Quirk after you...get sick?"

"Not for a few hours," Uraraka said smiling a bit weakly, "I can try to hold it back. I should be fine. Probably...maybe."

That didn't fill anyone with much confidence. No one wanted to fail nor did they want to see someone puke up their last three meals.

Izuku tried to think of a solution, but thankfully one came in the form of someone he wasn't expecting.

"Eat this."

Momo had left her position in the crowd and her hand glowed pink before four pills grew out of her hand. She held them out to Uraraka who took them cautiously.

Momo could create stuff from scratch? Is that where she had gotten her gun from? That was beyond amazing.

"Uh, thanks Momo. Is that one for each of us?"

"No, they are all for you," Momo said and Izuku noticed that Momo looked particularly worn-out. Her shoulders were slumped and her skin looked dry and yet it was bathed with sweat.

"This," Momo took a moment to have a breather, "This is dimenhydrinate."

Silence.

"It's an antiemetic," the boy in glasses said to Izuku's relief, "It will prevent you from...voiding your stomach. You may feel drowsy afterwards, though."

"Wow, you're clever too! What's your name?"

"Excusez-moi," said the blonde boy as he stepped in-between everyone, "I believe we are getting off-topic. I doubt we have more than six minutes to go."

"The name is Yuga Aoyama, au fait," Aoyama said before turning to the tall boy, "We know these two ladies. What is your name?"

"Tenya Iida."

"I'm Izuku Midoriya," Izuku said not for the first time that day but he then got back to the task, "With what I'm planning six minutes is plenty. Will you take those pills? You're the most important part of the plan."

"I am?" Uraraka said and in a flash, she swallowed them all down, "Let's do this!"

Uraraka was about to charge off into the crowd, but Iida held her back, "Wait. If you lighten them now then they will just float away. We need something to tether them to the ground."

Iida was right Izuku realised. Things could have gone bad if they had just gone ahead. They needed a rope or something. Where could they—oh, right.

"Momo," Izuku turned to the girl and despite her apparent exhaustion she still seemed ready to go, "Can you make us some rope? We need something strong and flexible. Do you know anything like that?"

"Of course I do," Momo said as she stared him before she wiped the sweat from her face, "I believe I can handle making enough for them. How long do you need them to be?"

"Four 25m strips with a harness kinda like a...bag at the end."

"A _bag_?" Momo said as she narrowed her eyes and Izuku felt his heart skip a beat, "You must mean like a backpack? Straps that go over your shoulder? I can do that."

Thank goodness. She had really scared him there.

Momo's stomach emitted a pink light before the ropes began to rush out her skin. It was _really_ cool and Izuku felt like he had to interrogate Momo about her Quirk.

Some day.

He was pretty sure this bout of relative confidence would evaporate after the exam. Plus, she had been a bit frosty towards him this whole time. She probably (and understandably) was mad about the bag.

He'd pay her back.

Some day.

The ropes were handed out to the crowd in short order and as a pumped-up Uraraka began the lightening process Izuku felt confident that this would work.

It had to.

* * *

"Are you sure you'll be fine, Aoyama?" Izuku asked the boy and he received a shaky nod.

"You should worry about yourself, mon ami," Aoyama said as he secured the harness on his back. Behind him were nine students all floating in the air.

"My navel laser only works for a second at a time but with Uraraka's Quirk that won't be an issue," Aoyama said before he pointed to the two harnesses strapped over Izuku's body, "I worry for you more. That much drag can slow you down. Even Iida only has one group."

It was true. Izuku had worn two of the straps because despite being shorter than the other carriers, he was the more powerful runner even with Quirks in effect.

"Izuku will be fine," Uraraka said as she stifled a yawn.

She pressed her hand to Aoyama who was facing _away_ from the gate. The boy's feet began to float off the ground much to his delight.

"We have less than two minutes. Now go!"

"Au revoir~" Aoyama's voice trailed off as he fired a blast of his laser and it sent him and his group sailing away towards the gate. Judging by their screams, Aoyama was the only one enjoying the ride.

His control was surprisingly good. He was able to adjust his laser to keep everyone close to the ground and also keep them away from slamming into surrounding buildings.

They had to stagger their departures because of the danger Aoyama's laser presented. Once there was enough of a gap, Uraraka lightened herself and she grabbed onto the rope of Iida who was a bit further away.

"Are you sure you do not need any assistance, Midoriya?" Iida said once Uraraka was holding onto the rope, "I can make the trip twice if need be. My engines might be able to hold up."

Even as he said it though, Izuku knew that Iida only had one last sprint left in the tank. It had to be up to him.

"T-Thank you, but I'll be fine," Izuku said drawing a nod from Iida.

"Remarkable. I hope to see you at the gate."

Iida then took off in a sprint. He was pumping his arms and legs to the max and the people behind him screamed as they held onto the rope. Uraraka seemed to be the one who felt it the most. Her last words causing a small panic amongst Iida's group.

"I think I'm gonna be sick!"

Izuku began to count as Iida moved away. By his estimate, there were roughly three minutes left until the robot reached the gate. Present Mic kept announcing when a sector passed and they were one of the last ones if not the last one.

Once his count got to a minute, he turned to check on those behind him. Uraraka had managed to lighten everyone except for Momo. They were already pushing it as it was with the antiemetic pills so Izuku agreed to carry her weight. Momo was all the way at back and with everyone else being weightless it shouldn't affect him too much.

"Look! It's the signal!"

A bright blue beam shot straight up in the air. It wavered after a few seconds before disappearing. Aoyama and Iida had made it to the gate which left them with two minutes to get there.

It should be enough.

The upwards beam was supposed to signify everyone being safely tethered to the ground. Izuku was impressed by Iida's speed. He had probably ended up catching Aoyama's group if not beating them there outright.

"Get ready," Izuku said to everyone behind him and he went through the handseals for the Fatebreaker once more. His chakra coils were screaming at him, but he bit down the pain before kicking off the ground.

The first few steps were the hardest. The sun was beating down on him, screams filled the ear and his very being was sore from overuse of the Fatebreaker. Plus, the drag of _nineteen_ students was nothing to sniff at either.

He managed to power through it though as he stepped up the strength of the Fatebreaker as he went along. Once he was at 100% there was a heavy lurch behind but he fought through it with ease now that he was at maximum speed.

Finally, he reached the gates and he was relieved to finally shrug off the harnesses. Uraraka's eyes were half-closed but she was still coherent enough to release the weight of everyone and they all collapsed to the ground as one. Izuku laid on the ground for a few seconds as he waited for Present Mic to announce their pass.

It took a while for them to realise it wasn't coming.

"Where's the announcement?" asked one of the boys causing some confusion amongst the group.

There was loud chatter until Uraraka, fighting past her drowsiness, managed to garner everyone's attention with a loud shout, "Quiet! Look at the end of your rope, Izuku!"

Izuku turned and he frowned as he saw the torn end. A robot must have cut it while they were going. How had he missed that? How had _everyone_ missed that? Was it the speed he was going at? Who was it?

"I believe the answer to your question is the chic girl with the amazing hair," Aoyama said making Izuku jump back a bit.

"Momo?" Izuku thought back to the lurch he had felt while running. Had it been then? They were moving so fast, it was likely no one else had noticed.

"How much time left?" Izuku said as he threw the harnesses off, "I'm going back."

"Just under a minute," Iida said as he pointed to the looming robot and he tried to stand but his engines let out a weak whir, "I'd help you, but—"

*WHOOSH*

Izuku sped off without waiting for Iida's answer. There was no time for niceties. Momo could have been crushed under the robot by now or worse...Izuku managed to reach 100% instantly and this time the pain in his legs was worse than anything he'd ever felt.

He soldiered on and was able to find Momo laying on the road. The robot a few seconds away from crushing her. Her left arm was bent out of shape and her right leg seemed to be facing the wrong way. Her body seemed smaller too— unnaturally so.

The only good news was that she was wearing a helmet and Izuku was sure that her quick thinking had saved her life. He scooped her up and he ran towards the gate with the robot just about ten seconds behind.

She appeared to conscious and she tried to speak but her words were muffled by her visor and the wind. When they were about one hundred metres away from the gate, Izuku noticed a large number of people standing at the other contestants must have made their way over to watch.

It was then that Izuku tripped.

He used chakra to keep ahold of Momo and he protected her body as best he could. They rolled and tumbled and fell before finally, Izuku's back hit the ground.

They had at best thirty seconds left before the robot reached the gate and Izuku tried to stand, but a white-hot pain shot up his foot.

"Your ankle is broken," Momo said as she put her helmet's visor up, "It's over. We failed."

They were too banged up to close the distance and no one in their group could reach them before the robot did. His ankle was broken, Momo's knee looked downright awful and Iida had jammed his engines.

Tears leaked from his eyes as the whirring of the robot and the screeching of the crowd became overbearing. He was desperate. He'd use the Shunshin, but moving at those speeds with a broken ankle would end terribly.

A year of training and studying and fighting and pushing and working all gone because of one stupid trip.

There was no way.

Izuku felt his chakra begin to respond to his emotional state. He tried to rein the energy in, but it was futile. The energy spread across his body and leaked out into the surroundings.

"Midoriya, your ankle is— how?"

Momo's voice made him opened his eyes. He opened his eyes and he realised that he was standing. The pain that had been present for more than half the exam was now gone as _pink_ chakra flowed off of him.

The chakra felt soothing like a spring's day and yet it had a powerful fierceness behind it. Had his chakra always felt like this? Definitely not. A warm feeling enveloped him from behind and it was that sensation that triggered a switch in his mind.

He set off in a sprint towards the robot. The world blurred around him as he focused on the behemoth before him. He crouched down before an obscene amount of chakra was gathered in his legs.

He jumped.

The chakra was released with a strong pulse and the road beneath him buckled sending shards up into the air. His body was bathed in shadows as he flew through the air towards the robot. The red of its eyes gave Izuku a target to focus on.

The robot swung a massive fist towards him, but he spun out of the way with ease. He ran up the arm of the robot before kicking off towards its face. He had used so much force that the robot's arm had been torn right off and it fell to the ground with a crash.

As Izuku flew through the air, he pulled his sleeve back as chakra built into his fist.

He felt a drain on his reserves as a copious amount of chakra was channelled into his hand as it closed into a fist. His fingers were all, but shaking as he kept a storm perfectly contained in his hand.

He reared his arm back as he burst out into the sunlight. Somehow, Izuku _knew_ he was going to do something epic. Everyone was watching him. He could feel their eyes on him.

A desperate screech left his mouth as he zeroed in on the zero-pointer.

He needed a name for this. Something powerful, something strong, something that encapsulated the power in his hand and the danger that the robot was in.

Something like—

"Cherry Blossom Impact!"

Izuku barely had time to process the rubbish that had just escaped his mouth as his arm was thrown forward in a punch. His fist smashed into the robot and right at the moment of impact, the dense mass of chakra in his hand was released.

It was like a bomb had gone off.

The face of the robot shattered underneath the force of Izuku's punch before it fell back to the ground. Explosions riddled the robot as it fell to the ground. It kicked up a massive amount of dust and it was then that Izuku remembered something crucial.

Gravity.

* * *

**Examiners Room ~ A few moments earlier**

* * *

"That was a nasty fall," Midnight said as they took in Izuku's tumble as he carried the injured girl, "That girl looks familiar...Do I know her?"

"You should brush up on your knowledge," Power Loader said, "It doesn't matter. They're done."

"Only because the robot had punched the girl and not simply taken her out the air," Cementoss said as they watched Izuku struggle to his feet, "Let this go on."

Toshinori had been impressed by Izuku's plan. It was a bit off-the-wall but it had paid off. The robot hitting the girl out the air was beyond what he had asked for. Thankfully, she had conjured a helmet to protect herself.

The alternative was horrible to think about.

He agreed with Power Loader, though. Izuku's body was beaten up. The boy didn't know it, but Toshinori could see it straight away. He had torn the ligaments in his knees and arms. It was a miracle that he could keep moving. That Quirk of his must have overtaxed Izuku's body.

It was different from the unmastered version of One for All. There were no broken bones or anything, but the effect was still the same. The boy and girl were done. They were too far for anyone to rescue them.

As if the boy lived to defy Toshinori's expectations, a pink light shone from his body. His body was healed rapidly and Izuku took off _towards_ the robot. The teachers murmured but Toshinori could barely hear them over the beating of his heart.

He watched in equal parts horror and shock and amazement as the boy wrenched the robot's arm off with a kick. He was like a pink meteor as he sailed towards the robot. There was no sound transmitted, but Toshinori could swear he felt the Earth shake as Izuku's punch hit.

The robot stood no chance.

As Izuku disappeared into the dust cloud, Toshinori's mind was racing a mile a minute. The boy was strong and smart and he seemed to have a bit of a knack for leadership. That being said, there were too many red flags to ignore.

Between the pink healing energy, the superhuman physical feats and the conjuring of rods that seemed similar to one of the girl's Quirks, that made _three_ Quirks in one boy. A boy who had definitely been Quirkless until a year ago. A boy who had lied to the police.

Toshinori wished he could say that Izuku's performance in the practical exam or his plan or his destruction of the robot was what stuck with him. However, he would just be lying to himself.

The way he had cowed the crowd into submission by punching the ground haunted him. Physical force was _never_ an option against allies. There was always another way.

Toshinori had hope that Izuku was good and would stay that way, but the ghosts of his past made that hope worthless. If this _was_ a front, preparations needed to be made.

Toshinori would soon just be Toshinori. All Might was soon to be gone and even if Izuku was on the path to evil, Toshinori doubted he could strike a child down. It went against what he stood for and what he believed in and he was also just _tired_.

It could not and would not be him to deal with Izuku Midoriya should such a day come to pass. He would not bear that burden.

The dust cloud surrounding Izuku dissipated to reveal the boy standing on his feet with no issue. He trudged to his fellow examinee and picked her up. It was a slow process as he dragged himself and the girl to the gate.

Examinees from all sectors were visible on camera as they watched the boy walk towards them. Izuku finally made it to the gate and once he passed the threshold, he handed the girl over to another boy.

He took a step forward and tried to raise his arm, but then he fainted. There was a mild panic amongst the crowd that evaporated as Recovery Girl appeared from between them.

"The last sector has passed the exam! All items lost in the cities will be mailed to you with your results. Your results will be mailed to you within a week!"

Tsukauchi was right to make him accept the job. Izuku only proved to be more and more confusing as time went on. He only hoped he could solve the riddle soon enough.

Before that, though, he had business to settle. He excused himself from the room before searching the internet for a number. He found it and waited for a voice to pick up. Once the tone changed, he dipped into One for All and his body grew to its full power.

"This is Sir Nighteye's agency. May I ask who I am speaking to?"

"Torch."

The woman didn't respond there was a clicking noise and then a familiar voice spoke into All Might's ear.

"Hello?"

"Mirai, it's me," All Might said into the phone, "I know we've got a lot to speak about, but that's not important. It's time."

"Time for what?" Mirai's voice was cautious but even then All Might knew it was just for show.

"You're forcing me to say it? _Fine_ ," He let some levity leak into his tone for a second before it evaporated.

"It's about One for All. Do you still have that boy on a work-study?"

"I do."

"Good. I'll be at your agency in a few minutes."

It was time to pass his will on.

* * *

**French:**

**Au fait — By the way**

**Mon ami —My friend**

* * *

**Author Notes:**

**Finally done. This chapter, the UA exams and Izuku's hunt for a normal person to speak to are finally over.**

**Bag girl _was_ Momo and as I'm sure you can tell she'll play a bigger part in this than in canon so if you think I hate her or something I truly don't. She's actually one of my favourites. S** **he is impossible to hate lol.**

**In the same vein, due to her not being rescued by Izuku and also Izuku not being rescued _by_ her, Uraraka will not be _the_ girl. Still relevant and all, but she won't be the only girl getting a backstory and all that good stuff. Nothing personal, kiddos.**

**I don't bash characters. Fun to read, but not fun to write lmao.**

**I changed up the exam just a touch. Plus, it was longer than canon. Ten minutes is not enough for a good look at the candidates imo lol.**

**Also, it should be clear by the end scene, but yeah Izuku isn't getting One for All. It,s rather similar to stuff like the 8 Gates and Tsunade's strength and all that. This was asked _a lot_ but yeah Izuku was never getting One for All. **

**Thanks to those who responded with your favourite ships. There were some surprises, but ultimately it was all very helpful.**

**Question until the next update, class and dorm floors configurations. I moved up the dorm thins as you already know so who do you guys want to see with who? Kendou in 1A? Bakugou in 1B? Monoma rooming with Todoroki, Bakugou and Izuku?**

**Much like the shipping question, this is just getting my finger on the pulse. A looksy behind the curtain of sorts.**

**A massive thank you to all the people subscribing, commenting etc. The response from you guys has been a much-needed ego boost lmao. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your holidays and I'll see you in 2021.**

* * *

**Finally, The first OC competition is officially open. What do YOU think Izuku's hero costume should be? I have a few in mind, but if any of you have anything cooler you've got to shoot your shot. Full credit will always be given. Please do try to join the discord server if possible of putting the OC stuff in the comment section on FFN or on AO3. It makes it a lot easier to respond to you guys.**

**Server: discord. gg/ Ty68TdCDu6 (remove spaces)**


	9. "A bit of an understatement."

**Happy New Years.**

* * *

The fish was really gross to look at.

Its glassy eye just stared up at Izuku looking at him, but seeing nothing. It laid on a platform that was pristine and sterile. It was static and was a large gash going down its body pulsed with blood and he had to actively swallow down bile.

"You need to get used to this if you want to be a medic. You'll see a lot worse soon enough."

"Yes, master."

Izuku looked up in surprise at his teacher's sudden appearance. How had she managed to sneak up on him? Her hair and clothes were very bright. She had the robe on for crying out loud. The red and white clashed against the subdued blue of the room they were in.

Had he been too squicked out by the fish or was she just that good?

Would he ever be that good?

"Your patient is dying."

"Sorry, master."

She was now holding a bottle of alcohol. Where had that come from? It smelt awful. Izuku shook her head. That wasn't important to him right now. What was important was saving this fish's life.

In two quick handseals, Izuku's hands emitted a soft green light. She pressed his hands to the cold and slimy surface of the fish. The blood and slime and mucus made his skin crawl, but it wasn't enough to disrupt her focus.

The Mystical Palm Technique was an odd technique even for her, him. It was a careful balancing act, but it never failed to amaze her when it did its magic. The gash slowly stitched itself up before after some time it was finally healed.

The fish sprang to life as it flipped around on the platform. He picked it up and ignored the slimy feeling long enough to put the fish in a tank of water. It swam around energetically from here to there and everywhere.

It was as if it hadn't been on the brink of death, if not beyond, just a short while ago.

Izuku looked up into the impressed brown eyes of his master.

"Well done, Sakura. I think you've gone as far as you can with fish and rather quickly at that."

Warmth spread through his, her, body at the praise. He was sure his cheeks were pinker than her hair right now. Thankfully, if his master had noticed, she didn't bring it up.

"Anyways, what do you love more? Bunnies or puppies?"

"Puppies, Lady Tsunade."

What did that have to do with anything? Plus, Izuku was sure he liked bunnies more than puppies.

"Alright," the older woman said after a swig from her bottle, "You're practising next on puppies. We need to get rid of your squeamishness. You can take the day off. I'm swamped in meetings."

The woman turned on a dime as she left. Her red and white robe fluttering behind her. There was writing on the back Izuku could barely make out the words. It looked like it said—

* * *

Izuku sat up with a gasp.

He clutched his head as a splitting headache came over him. His head felt like sharp daggers were being driven into his head from opposite sides. He rubbed his temples to rid himself of the pain and slowly he began to recover.

A few minutes later— he wasn't sure how many— the headache faded to an irritating throb that was much more manageable. That too faded away until all that was left was the phantom pains of what had been the world's worst-ever headache.

That had been awful.

Izuku sat back down on his bed only realising that he was in what looked to be an infirmary. From the little he could see of the outside, it looked to be the late afternoon. He must have been taken here after the exam.

He had a window to his left and a closed curtain to his right. The view of Musutafu from here was rather spectacular. The city was bathed in orange light as the sun began its descent. The beauty managed to distract him for just about three seconds.

Izuku hurt.

His body felt like one giant sore. His palms were sweaty, his knees weak and his arms were heavy. This was worse than anything he had felt thus far. He wasn't sure if it was all down to the UA exam or the... fever dream he had just had.

Calling it a fever dream didn't do it any justice either. Not really.

Once after drinking an energy drink, Kendou had given him, he had a dream about being a balloon. It was very cool and then suddenly frightening. It was nothing compared to what he'd just gone through.

No, this was different.

It was almost like he was living someone else's life. He'd barely felt like himself throughout it and it had felt too vivid and too real, somehow. He had felt the slimy scales of the fish and had smelt the alcohol the blonde woman was drinking.

Unlike many others which faded away almost instantly, this dream was still very clear in his mind. What could have brought it on? Izuku wasn't normally one to dwell on his dreams, but this was just different.

He, or rather the girl who he was seeing through, had used medical ninjutsu. Izuku had only skimmed the section in Hiruzen's scroll since much like the rest of the stuff on there, he lacked the means, control or power to go far in them.

He was aware of his current capabilities. The Academy Three, the Body Flicker, the Fatebreaker and rudimentary chakra and elemental control. Rudimentary was harsh on the Surface Sticking and Water Walking, but apparently, anyone could do that.

Anyone with chakra, that was.

In any case, Izuku knew what his limits were even as he tried to go beyond them. The exam was a prime example. After running the Fatebreaker for so long, his body had begun to ache. It wasn't just fatigue or his muscles being overworked either.

Looking back on it, the pain was focused on his limbs especially. Izuku had never had any sort of damage to his joints or ligaments, but he had a good understanding of the human body.

It was not normal for your knees to throb with pain with every step you took or for your elbow to click every time you moved it even a little. Clearly, the Fatebreaker wasn't an infallible reinforcement technique like he had thought.

At some stage, the reinforcement must have failed. Perhaps due to oversaturation or something, he wasn't a doctor. Or a chakra expert. No one alive was, really.

That being said it was clear the Fatebreaker wasn't the cure for what ailed him. Roughly 30 minutes until suffering ligament and joint damage was a ridiculously low bar. Especially for someone who planned to be number one.

When he had tripped and broken his ankle and laid in the dirt, it should have been the end for him and for the others in his Sector. He'd tripped over something. A gouge in the Earth from someone's Quirk or a stray robot limb or maybe even just his own feet.

He had tried to shield Momo from any more damage and he had succeeded. Somehow. Barely. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for him.

At those speeds with already damaged ligaments, joints and bones, a broken ankle was unsurprising. He should have laid in the dirt until the exam ended. He should have ended with no points and no hopes of

Maybe the robot would have ridden over him and Momo and crushed them for their failure to pass. At least, then they wouldn't have had to face the disappointment of the other competitors.

And yet none of that happened.

Instead, they had passed. They had passed because of Izuku. They had passed because Izuku healed debilitating injuries and then put the robot out of commission with one punch.

Izuku was stumped.

The pink chakra, the healing, the absurd strength and now the weird dreams. It was not a coincidence. Right? He knew random activation of techniques wasn't common for chakra users. And yet it had happened to him multiple times.

Once was a fluke, twice was a coincidence and three times was a pattern.

Izuku was already at three.

He had to figure out what it all meant once he got the chance. The coloured chakra, the new and inexplicable jutsu, had to mean something. Izuku was sure that the fruit had everything to do with this. He had obtained chakra unnaturally.

Did these symptoms come with the territory?

"Why do things have to be so complicated?" Izuku sank deeper into the admittedly comfortable bed, "I must have been someone awful in a past life."

Izuku's words had been intended for himself and himself alone. The last thing he had expected was for someone else to speak up.

"What makes you say that?"

Izuku sat up straight in his bed and he looked towards the drawn curtain. That was where the question had come from.

"I-Is someone there?" Izuku stumbled over his words a bit, "I can't see anything because of the—"

Izuku's words died on his lips as the curtain was drawn open revealing—

"Momo?"

Momo was laying in a bed identical to his. She was also sitting up, but her arm was wrapped in thick gauze. There were a few bandages dotted across her face that did nothing to take away from her intense stare. Idly, he noted that her hair was down from its ponytail.

"Why do you think you were someone awful in a past life?" Momo asked as if she hadn't just scared Izuku halfway to death, "Are you religious?"

"I-I was, um, just thinking about some stuff," Izuku said as he scratched the back of his head, "P-personal stuff. Sorry if I woke you up."

"You didn't."

...This was awkward. Of all the people to end up with him here, it had to be the one person, other than Bakugou, who hated him. She had a good reason to hate him at least. Perhaps, things wouldn't be so awkward if he hadn't destroyed her bag.

"W-Why are you here?" Izuku asked, trying to dispel the awkwardness in the room, "I would have thought you'd be home by now."

"I broke my arm and dislocated my knee," Momo said as she gestured to her bandaged arm and then to her leg.

Oh, right. That had happened on his watch, right?

"Sorry about that," Izuku said out of a mix of guilt and obligation, "I probably should have had you closer to the front. Or carried you. You were the only one still affected by gravity."

She seemed to stare deep into his soul like some sort of seer before she laid back on her bed. A rather heavy sigh left Momo as she stared up at the ceiling.

"It is not your fault. You'd done more than was necessary. If I had been paying attention then you would not have had to rescue me," Momo said and her tone sounded angry and disappointed but at herself more than anything.

Izuku wouldn't have expected anyone without a suitable Quirk to react to an attack at those speeds. Izuku had tunnel vision whilst running that fast and he had had the most stable journey of them all. Momo would have been thrown up and down and side to side like she was on a rollercoaster.

There was no way she stood a chance of seeing and then stopping the attack. That went for most people too.

"I suppose you're right," Momo said and Izuku felt his ears begin to burn, "However, I am not 'most people'. I need to do better. To be better. My carelessness almost ruined everyone's chances of getting into UA. If you had not intervened then I would have been the cause of forty failures."

Why was she being so hard on herself? Did she not know that her part had been just as important as the others?

"How did you do it?"

Izuku turned towards Momo at the question, "D-do what?"

Momo turned to face him and her face was set in a determined gaze, "You destroyed that robot with one punch. With the injuries you had, what you did was not possible."

This wasn't good. Momo would have seen everything since she was right there. Hell, the teachers would have seen everything too since the exam would have definitely been filmed.

Maybe he actually was a villain in his past life. Did he go around kicking babies, killing puppies and poisoning rivers? Nothing about chakra seemed to be simple. Absolutely nothing.

"It was my Quirk," Izuku said after a moment's pause, "I activated it not too long ago so I still don't know all of what I can do. So far, I know that it is a variant of a power-up Quirk."

That was as close to the truth as he would get. Revealing more to her would only cause more headaches.

"I see. Does it have a name?" Momo said nearly causing him to fall off the bed.

"A n-name? Uh, yes it does," Izuku floundered for a bit before inspiration hit him, "Chakra! Yes. I call it Chakra. What about your Quirk? It was pretty cool too!".

Thankfully, Momo took the bait. Any more questions about chakra and he was bound to trip up. There was something about Momo's demeanour that unsettled him.

Well, unsettled him more than the average girl did anyways.

"My Quirk is Creation," Momo said and despite himself, Izuku felt himself lean forward in anticipation, "I can convert the lipids in my body to any non-living object so long as I understand the molecular structure of the object in question."

That was amazing. And it sounded familiar. Really familiar. If Izuku weren't still a bit out of it, he'd probably remember why he felt this way. That barely mattered, though. It was an unreal Quirk.

"So that gun you were using was made by you?" Izuku asked, drawing a nod from Momo, "That's amazing...You must study really hard to remember what you can make! What limits do you have? Is it a one-to-one conversion? Or is it more than that? Less? Can you make something that isn't solid? What happens if you overuse your Quirk? Can your body handle it? Has it hampered your growth? Is there a size limit to what you can create?"

The barrage of questions left Izuku's mouth almost against his will. His curiosity possessed him for a few seconds. It washed away as he took in Momo's raised brows and open mouth.

Did someone have a hypnotism Quirk? This muttering was getting really out of hand.

The door opened, saving Izuku from himself. It swung open revealing an old doctor and Izuku immediately recognised her as Recovery Girl— a renowned doctor with a Quirk to match. She had a clipboard in her hands and she smiled at the two of them when she spotted them. Momo seemed grateful for the interruption as she tore her gaze away from Izuku. He noticed her begin to twiddle her fingers, but he put that aside as Recovery Girl spoke.

"Hey, you, you're finally awake," Recovery Girl said as she put her clipboard down and it took a moment to realise she was speaking to him.

"Me?" Izuku asked drawing a nod from the Pro, "How long have I been out?"

"An hour or two at most," she said before handing him a small bag of sweets, "That should recharge you for a few hours. You guys worked hard today. Izuku, you had no injuries, but you were unconscious when I found you. We kept you here with the other casualties to recover."

Casualties?

"There were only injuries," Recovery Girl said after one look at his face, "We would never let anyone die on our watch. It never has and never will happen if I have anything to say about it. Now, let me do a quick check-up on you, boy. The girl has already received hers."

Izuku fought down a blush after Recovery Girl's chastisement. Thankfully, the check-up was straightforward and he was given a clean bill of health.

"Everything appears to be in order," Recovery Girl said as she picked up her clipboard, "A nurse will help you with your forms and direct you to your belongings and transport. The school saw it fit to organise transport for the injured."

After the day he'd had, Izuku was glad he wouldn't have to take public transport as well. At this time, the roads, trains and buses were packed and he just wanted to get home as soon as possible.

The doctor left soon after that leaving just Izuku and Momo. His conversation with Momo had been interrupted, but he didn't feel like continuing it after his massive geek-out. He fiddled with the bag of sweets until Momo asked him yet another question.

"Have we met before?"

Izuku would have remembered that.

"Uh, I don't think so?" Izuku said as he looked at taller girl, "The first time I saw you was back on the path when I—"

—ruined her very expensive and very rare bag.

Izuku trailed off, but he was saved as two nurses walked in. Weirdly, they were in two different uniforms. It was the one in the more-worn uniform that walked to his bedside.

"Izuku Midoriya?" she asked and he nodded, "I've got your exit forms here. You just need to answer a few questions and I'll take where you need to go."

The nurse seemed tired which was probably a result of running around all day. Idly, Izuku wondered how many others had needed to take a visit to the infirmary. He was sure it was more than just a few.

He began to answer the questions and he took notice of the other nurse helping Momo out of her bed. Momo's leg was wrapped in a thick cast and she was helped into a specialised wheelchair by the other nurse.

Thankfully, neither of them took notice of him as he watched this happen. He answered all the relevant questions from the nurse, but he stalled on one of them as he caught the last of the other's nurse conversation.

"I should be able to get you out of this within a few days," the nurse said to Momo who gave a stiff nod in response, "Now let's go, Ms Yaoyorozu. Your driver has been here for a few hours now."

Ms Yaoyorozu. The same Yaoyorozu as those who owned the Samsara Resort and a plethora of other businesses, both hero and non-hero related.

He had —accidentally— destroyed the very expensive and rare bag of a girl from what was arguably Japan's most powerful family.

It was just his luck. Had he started a nuclear war in his past life or something? Maybe the 21st-century one. That one had the highest death toll. It had been short too. 2021 to 2021.

The door closed behind Yaoyorozu snapping him out of his daze. Izuku stared after her. Yaoyorozu was a lock to get into UA. What if they were in the same class? His mounting dread was cut off as the nurse gently nudged him.

"Are you okay?" she said before looking towards the door and a devious smile grew on her face, "Aw, are you sad to see her go? She is pretty. Are you in love?"

"W-what? No, I just—" Izuku blurted out causing the nurse to giggle at his plight. His cheeks felt red-hot and probably looked the same too.

"I'm just teasing you. You're too easy to fluster," the nurse said with an all-too-wide smile that made Izuku want to sink into the earth, "Let's go get your stuff. We cleaned your clothes too because we're just nice like that."

That was pretty nice of them.

Izuku followed the nurse out the room and he almost screamed as his feet touched the cold floor. Izuku was tough, though, so he just helped a bit and powered through the pain.

"Do you know that girl? Apparently, you guys were found close to each other."

"Not particularly," Izuku said to the nurse, "We were just in the same zone. We made a plan to escape that robot, but she got hurt so I went back for her."

"That's so heroic!" the nurse looked at him over her shoulder and Izuku felt the familiar burn of embarrassment come over him.

"What?! I would have done it for anyone! I promise!" Izuku said almost in one breath causing the nurse to giggle again, "She was also really hurt. I'm surprised she left so early."

Momo (or was it Yaoyorozu now?) had been in worse shape than he had been. He hoped he didn't make things worse with the tumble he'd taken.

"Her personal nurse has a Quirk similar to Recovery Girl's," the nurse said as they turned down a corner, "It looks a lot worse than it is. Her limbs are a bit weak, but honestly, she probably could have left with the other competitors hours ago."

"Really?" Izuku asked drawing a nod from the nurse.

So why didn't she?

* * *

Six Days Later — Kendou Gym and Dojo

* * *

Izuku walked out the changing rooms at Kendou's gym before making way for the stairs. It had been six days since the exam and also six days since he had last heard anything from Kendou. He had gone to the gym in the evenings, much like today, to see if she showed up.

She never did.

For the past week when he wasn't agonising over the results of the UA exam, he had kept up with his training. Takoba Beach was a viable place once more and Izuku had made considerable progress.

He wasn't sure if he was ready to fire off jutsu or anything like that, but it felt as though he'd gained a new level of control over his chakra. It wasn't an earth-shattering change, but it wasn't easily dismissed either.

It was a big enough difference that Izuku was feeling confident about trying out some basic elemental jutsu. Eventually. Although he wanted perfect elemental control before learning jutsu, it was a very likely possibility that he would need actual guidance and assistance to get there.

There were bound to be teachers and students and facilities at UA about elemental Quirks. They weren't exactly the same as elemental chakra, but he was hoping they were similar enough to make a difference.

As things were, Izuku had stopped at destroying metal objects with his chakra. He still hurt himself when he did it, though. Water and earth chakra didn't have all that much backlash.

As for wind, fire and lightning, all Izuku would say was that he had gained a new appreciation for modern medicine and creams.

In any case, Izuku had also gone to the gym hoping to catch sight of Kendou to no avail. He had spent hours trying to find her but to no avail. He had asked around too, but no one had seen her.

He reached the staircase and he was about to walk up them when he bumped into someone shorter than him. He caught them before they fell and he calmed down when he saw who it was.

"Thank you, Izuku," Mai the secretary said and Izuku carefully helped her to her feet, "I must be going blind! I didn't see you there!"

"It's okay," Izuku said to the elderly woman, "Have you seen Kendou, uh, I mean Itsuka? She hasn't been around for the whole week."

"I saw her just upstairs," Mai said causing Izuku to smile, "That girl is...something. Who smiles after getting punched in the face?"

That confirmed it. Kendou was here and she was in a good mood. That was great. Izuku had been worried she had gone underground because something had set her off.

"Thank you, Mai," Izuku said and he waved goodbye before going up the stairs.

That was who Kendou thought had given him bruises? She had to be over sixty years old.

True to Mai's words, Kendou was in a boxing fight with a tall man with red skin and four arms. The man unleashed a barrage of wild and ill-disciplined blows that Kendou managed to stay ahead of or block before her hand multiplied in size. The man had obviously never trained before and it was going to bite him in the butt.

Hard.

The impact was just as gruesome as Izuku had expected it to be. Kendou's uppercut ploughed into the man's chin so hard he flipped through the air. The man dropped like a rock and Kendou put her foot on his chest as she held a fist up to the sky. The small crowd watching the match traded money and barbs as people lost out on their bets.

The people who had bet against Kendou were suckers. Going head-to-head with her in boxing was like trying to hold your breath underwater longer than a fish.

It was a fool's game.

"Who wants some?" Kendou shouted at some of the others who were already geared up, "You want some? Come get some—Oh! Sorry, guys! I got to go!"

Thankfully, Kendou had spotted him and she walked out the ring as she rushed towards him. There was a chorus of lighthearted groans and boos that followed her, but that didn't seem to matter as Kendou just waved those off.

"Hey, Izuku!" Kendou said mustering some excitement despite her moderate exhaustion as she began to unstrap her boxing gear.

"Hi, Kendou."

"Are you ever going to use my name?" Kendou said as she got the last of her boxing gear off, "I'm starting to feel like we aren't friends..."

Izuku narrowed his eyes. He wasn't falling for that one.

"What?" Kendou said, bringing a hand to her chest, "Was it something I said?"

Izuku sighed, "Where have you been? You've been off the grid for like a week."

"My parents booked us a week-long trip to Kyoto," Kendou said as they began to walk towards one of the less-crowded rings, "My phone got destroyed during that battle with that elephant villain and Kamui."

Kendou's tone hardened at the end and Izuku, wise boy that he was, pivoted away from that rabbit hole.

"How did your exam go?" Izuku asked and thankfully Kendou seemed to cheer up at that.

"It went great," Kendou said a smile spreading across her face, "I got 77 points! The highest after me was like 30. At best! Those scrubs at the gate couldn't touch me. What about you?"

Oh, right. Kendou had almost caused a bunch of people to go after him...

"77, huh?" Izuku asked and despite himself, a smile spread across his face, "That is great. It's no less than I expected from you. You should be proud of yourself."

This was gonna be great.

Kendou stared at him for a few seconds, "You're being weird. Why are you being weird?"

"No reason," Izuku said as he climbed into the ring, "77 points is a really good score and I bet you'll get into UA..."

"But..." Kendou asked after he trailed off, "How much did you get? You beat me, didn't you?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny—" Izuku ducked out of the way of a punch, "What? Was it something I said?"

"I see what you're doing," Kendou said with a strained smile, "You're trying to get back at me. Fine, then. How about a bet? You beat me in a spar then you don't tell me your score. If I beat you then you answer all of my questions."

"That seems unbalanced," Izuku said as he watched Kendou put on her gloves," I was going to tell you about the exam either way."

Those were the ones that could grow with her hands. Not good.

"Fine then, no bets," Kendou said as she hopped out the ring and she threw him some combat gloves as well, "I just really feel like beating you up."

"Because I teased you?" Izuku asked and Kendou confirmed it with a nod, "You do that to me all the time!"

"I'm a hypocrite."

* * *

Izuku's body felt like a rhino had used it as a trampoline. Kendou was strong. Stupidly strong. A mix of genetics and exercise made her far stronger than she appeared to be. It wasn't a surprise she had destroyed so many robots with her bare hands.

Izuku gave as good as he got, though.

Izuku stepped forward and lashed out with a flurry of punches. Kendou blocked and weaved and parried them all, but he kept up with the assault until he connected with a wicked hook to her side.

He swung his foot out in a kick and it slammed into Kendou's flank. She let out a groan of pain, but then she made him pay as she delivered a clean jab straight to his face.

That was gonna leave a mark.

"Can I kick things up a notch?" she asked pointing to her gloves, "I want to see how far I can launch you from here."

Izuku's blood was pumping and despite the pain he was in, he was eager to actually use his chakra.

"Let's do it!"

With his recently improved chakra control, Izuku was able to activate the Fatebreaker without any handseals. It was something that came in handy as Kendou's giant fist suddenly loomed over him.

He rolled out of the way in a burst of speed. Chakra wafted off him like smoke from a fire and it was a rather apparent effect even under the fluorescent lights of the gym.

"Are you glowing?" Kendou asked her cheeks flushed red from exertion, "Is this your Quirk? It looks cool, but glowing won't be enough—"

She was cut off as Izuku's foot slammed into her face.

Kendou was sent rolling over the floor before the ropes arrested her movement. Her hands were a normal size again and she looked at him with a smile despite the bruise on her face.

"That was amazing!" she sprung up to her feet immediately, "My ears are ringing! Hit me again! Just like that!"

Who was he to say no to that?

This time Kendou was better prepared and she was able to stay just ahead of Izuku's strikes for the most part. He was a lot stronger now, though, so she had to keep her Quirk active all the while. They kept at sparring with their Quirks as they ignored the passage time

Izuku was able to get past Kendou's defences fairly often and he made her pay with crushing blows that were sure to leave tons of bruises in the morning. Unfortunately, Kendou got past his guard too and after a while, Izuku was pretty sure he'd rather take an explosion from Bakugou than through this hell of being thrown around like a pinball.

Speaking of which, Izuku blocked two punches from what were now normal-sized hands before Kendou punched him. Hard. With a giant fist. Izuku flew. He slammed into the turnbuckle in the corner and upon impact, all the air left his body.

That hurt. A lot. Izuku was pretty sure he could taste his liver.

"Call it a draw?" Kendou said looking exhausted as well as she deactivated her Quirk, "We've been at this for hours. It's already like 9 PM."

The clock on the wall said 9:42 PM.

"Yeah, I think that's enough for today," Izuku said as he let out a sigh, "We kinda lost track of time there."

They collapsed to the floor and laid down near each other in the ring. They were the only people still up here although Izuku was sure that the downstairs gym was jam-packed.

"That's because you wouldn't stay down."

"Neither did you."

"This is the first real action I've had in a week. You have no idea just how stressful weddings are especially when you're a bridesmaid."

Izuku turned to Kendou, "You were a bridesmaid? Like with a dress and everything?"

Kendou frowned at him, "Is that so surprising?"

Was this a trap? It sounded like a trap.

"No?" Izuku said and he frowned when he saw Kendou's expression tighten up, "I don't mean you'd look bad in a dress or anything! I'm sure you'd look great! Totally! I just meant you don't seem like the type to like that sort of stuff! Not that that type of stuff is lame or anything, but uhhhhh—sorry?"

Why were words so difficult? Where was the confidence and eloquence he had had during the exam? He could have really used some now. He hoped that Kendou's face was red from getting punched a lot and not red from being mad at him.

"Apology accepted."

Izuku let out a sigh. Of relief. It was usually a sign of frustration or exasperation when it came to him and Kendou. She really knew what buttons to push. It sucked. Kinda.

"You'd think so, but I'm usually pretty straight-laced," Kendou said and Izuku could not help the expression that came over his face.

"That's not how I'd describe it exactly," Izuku muttered and it was just loud enough for Kendou to hear.

"I heard that," Kendou said but there was no real heat to her tone, "For the most part, I am very disciplined. The product of years and years of martial arts and exercise. I only let my hair down when I feel super comfortable. Usually, that's with my family, here at the dojo or with you."

Technically, Kendou's hair was always up in a ponytail, but now probably wasn't the best time to joke like that.

He'd save it for later. Plus, it was unimportant compared to the rest of what she had said.

"With me? Why aren't you like this with more people?" Izuku asked Kendou, "You're great."

That was understating a lot. Compared to others his age and just in general, Kendou was great. A bit zany, but ultimately great. She was awesome compared to the others from his school.

"People are judgy," Kendou said as she looked up at the ceiling before turning to face him, "It's easier to just act normal around others than to be my usual self. Not all people are as...accepting as you are."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

And he was. Kendou was a lot more subdued than usual. She usually had enough energy to power Japan for a week, but that was almost gone now. It was weird seeing someone who had more confidence in her fingernail than he did in his entire body act like this.

"Don't be," Kendou said as she smiled at him, "You're a good friend. I don't have many of those— friends. You're probably my closest one. Ugh, sorry if this is too heavy. I think your punches did something to my brain."

"It's okay," Izuku assured her before adding, "Y-you're my closest friend too. Well, technically, you're my only friend, but still. I think I get how you feel. I only got my Quirk a year ago. All the students and teachers at my school thought I was a joke because I wanted to be a hero even without a Quirk."

He thought the attention from the Konoha would change things, but everything went back to normal after a few weeks. It almost hurt more to be within reach of normality only for it to be ripped away from you.

"They're stupid," Kendou said resolutely drawing his attention, "You're a bit shy, pretty dorky, ramble on a lot, your jokes need a lot of work and you're pretty secretive now that I think about it—"

"Thank you?"

"But you're also smart, hardworking, kind and really strong," Kendou finished before she pressed down on her cheek with her finger, "Side note, I think I might need to see the dentist after this. A few of my teeth feel loose."

Kendou thought that much of him? A warm feeling radiated from somewhere deep within Izuku. A year ago, he'd never thought he would have a strong 'Quirk', a strong shot at UA and a bonafide close friend.

It made him appreciate what he had just a little more.

"Thanks, Kendou," Izuku said feeling his cheeks burn up, "I feel the same. I'm not really good at the friend thing...or talking really, but I do value our friendship. You're violent and a little brash. You tricked me into buying a pretty expensive bottle. You're also arrogant and did I say violent already because—"

"If you want to spar then I'm ready to go. What do you say?"

Okay, that was enough teasing. She looked a little pissed. He was starting to understand why people lost to Kendou so much. Surprisingly, giant fists to the face hurt. A lot. Who knew?

"But," Izuku said as he held up a hand to placate Kendou, "You taught me how to fight for free for months. You're hilarious and you're so brave you were willing to fight off those burglars on your own despite being outnumbered."

Kendou covered her face with her hands and Izuku recognised it for what it was. Clearly, they were both quite bad at taking compliments. What else could it be?

It was actually pretty difficult to talk about things like this. Emotions never had been Izuku's strong suit. That being said, Izuku also found it relieving in a way to get these thoughts off his chest. It was cathartic on an almost chemical level.

"When we get into UA, no matter what class we're in, there's nothing I'd want more than to remain friends," Izuku said breaking the brief silence, "After all, you are my best friend, Itsuka."

They sat in silence for a while before Kendou spoke again.

"Itsuka, huh?" Kendou said with a smile so radiant it made Izuku look away from her, "What happened to Kendou?"

That was it. He was switching back to calling her Kendou. Most people would have let the name change slide, but then again Kendou was not like most people. That was her best trait in Izuku's eyes. Sometimes, it was her worst trait, though.

"You wanted to know how much I got in the Entrance Exam, right?" Izuku asked, completely ignoring her question.

Hook.

"Oh, right!" Kendou said, turning towards him completely, "How much did you get? 40? 50?"

"Higher."

"61?"

Line.

"Higher."

"62?"

"...Higher."

"75?"

Kendou's tone had grown from confident to worried.

Izuku smiled as he saw Kendou's face drop.

"Higher."

Kendou took a deep breath before tensing up, "77?"

Sinker.

"77? Hmm, I think I—,oh wait. Look at the time," Izuku said pointing to the wall clock, "I really need to get home! I'll tell you what. After UA sends us our results, we should go to a restaurant or something."

Before Kendou could respond, Izuku picked up his stuff and peeled out of the dojo using the Fatebreaker. It was only as he was halfway down the stairs that he heard Kendou scream after him.

"You sneaky little—"

The rest was lost to the wind as Izuku made it downstairs in record time. He deactivated the Fatebreaker before undressing and popping into the showers. As always, the water was scalding and it soothed all the aches he had in his body.

Izuku got dressed and he was about to put his sweaty clothes away when he saw Kage's mask inside his bag. A familiar want began to build inside him and it was only galvanised by the conversation he'd had with Kendou earlier.

He felt like he was walking on air after the heart-to-heart he had had upstairs and a large part of him wanted to gear up as Kage for one last time before retiring the mask for good.

His UA results would be delivered tomorrow, but Izuku was 99% sure he had gotten in. That being said the wait still filled him with a nervous energy that the sparring with Kendou hadn't quite managed to shake.

Izuku held onto the cool surface of the mask and he knew that his decision had already been made.

Just one more time.

* * *

There wasn't exactly a science to being a vigilante as it turned out.

Izuku generally just walked around the lesser-patrolled areas and waited for something to happen. Of course, walking around either as Kage or himself would draw far too much attention so he tended to stick to the rooftops.

Roof hopping was an exercise in controlling both his fear and chakra. The first time he'd done it, he had destroyed the tiles on someone's roof. He had left before someone could catch a strange man in a hood loitering.

Definitely not his best look.

He had told his mother that he'd be out a bit later due to training. Technically not a lie, this was training. He was gaining practical experience and he just so happened to help people while he was at it.

In any case, Izuku had been jumping from roof to roof for nearly two hours. The most he had done was interrupt an attempted mugging, but both the thief and the victim had disappeared into thin air as he had appeared.

He hadn't even been able to get a word out before they disappeared.

"All I want is a little crime. A hijacking here, an assault there," Izuku muttered as he sat down on a building opposite a very loud nightclub, "Is that so bad?"

Wait...Did he really just say that? That was awful.

"I don't think I can even blame that one on Kendou," Izuku said as he stared up at the sky, "Ugh, maybe I should have just—are those sirens?"

Thankfully, Izuku was stopped from going down that rabbit hole as a car blasted past down in the street below. The streets were full despite this being a dangerous time and place for pedestrians. The car ran a stop sign before taking a sharp turn.

Did he just conjure a high-speed chase?

The speeding car was quickly followed by two police cars. Their sirens wailing into the night. However, before they could take their turns, a hulking man appeared from nowhere.

He stood directly in the way of the cars and didn't seem fazed as they closed in on him. The brakes of the police cars squealed as they tried to slow down, but it was apparent to Izuku and the pedestrians down below that there wasn't enough time.

As it turned out, that didn't matter.

The man's body seemed to morph as strands of muscles grew out of his arm. The muscle fibres wrapped around the man like a giant armour and he raised his hands in a catching position before the first car slammed into him.

The man barely took a step back before he lifted the car with his hands. He spun before throwing the car where it had just come from. Unfortunately, this was right in the way of the second police car.

The second car tried to swerve out of the way, but it was still clipped by the other car. The second car veered off the road and it smashed into a storefront. The first car flipped a few times before coming to rest on its side.

The pedestrians were now going berserk as they tried to flee. Izuku slid down the face of the apartment and even through his mask, he could smell the stench of petroleum.

He landed on the street with a smooth jump, but he was barely noticed by the screaming crowds. The officers in the second car were the first to get out and they were woozy on their feet as they tried to close in on the obvious villain who still stood in the same spot.

Somehow, the people in the first car were in more danger. The fuel tank was leaking onto the streets and there seemed to be no movement inside the car. No one was moving to help the officers at all. In fact, the car was being given a wide berth by all except for one person.

Izuku could tell that the person was a man and he was worried that the man was suffering from a panic attack or something. It wasn't uncommon for people's flight or fight instincts to just completely fail them.

Izuku caught up to the man and he put a hand on the man's shoulder, "Sir, I'm going to need you to—"

Thank goodness, he was wearing his mask.

The man's face was marred by deep burns and piercings that gave him an intimidating edge. His black hair and cold eyes combined with all of that to make for a very unsettling aura.

"It's the face, right?" the man said with a wry smile, "I get that a lot. Since it's your first time, I won't kill you."

Izuku couldn't tell if he was joking which was bad.

Izuku settled into a stance as he took a few steps back. This was bad. He did not have his chakra rods with him and that cut down his effectiveness by a lot.

Izuku had a feeling he needed to pull out all the stops for this guy.

The man raised a hand towards him and Izuku gathered chakra ready to use the Substitution or Body Flicker at a moment's notice. He nearly lost control as he heard gunfire from the other officers.

A quick glance confirmed they were now engaging the man with the muscle control Quirk. It wouldn't end well if all they had were guns.

"Muscular is going to crush those guys," the burnt man said, "Eventually. He likes to play with his food. And speaking of food, you see that bar over there? It's right behind you."

Izuku didn't bite.

"It's more of a nightclub if I'm being honest," the man said his hand still pointed at Izuku, "It's one of many clubs owned by Miruko. You know her. The rabbit. Anyways, as you can see my face isn't exactly cover-worthy."

A bit of an understatement.

Izuku knew that this man was stalling for something, but he couldn't bring himself to attack. Intrinsically, his body just knew he would regret it if he did so. Unlike the other crooks he had fought, this guy was just scary.

"Anyways, they refused to let me in because of all of this," he said while gesturing to his face, "I get it, but that deeply and really hurt. What is it they say about revenge? It's best served hot?"

The man's hand moved a few inches up and away from Izuku. A blue wisp formed on the man's hand before Izuku felt the temperature of the street skyrocket. He threw himself to the ground and it was no moment too soon.

A beam of blue fire shot out the man's palm and into the nightclub. Izuku was laying on the asphalt of the road and it felt as though he was standing right next to a burning star. The flames weren't that bright, but their heat ate at Izuku's very being.

The nightclub and the buildings surrounding it were enveloped in flames and Izuku was about to go in when the man coughed.

"Before you go in, you may want to deal with this first," the man said and he clicked his finger causing a spark to fall down to the ground.

Izuku had to scramble back as the flames ignited the petroleum on the floor. Thankfully, none was on him, but it was with a heavy heart that he realised it led to the totalled police car. To his dismay, the officers were still unconscious.

"This is why you work in teams, rook."

The man then ran off and Izuku was frozen for a bit before he ran to the police cruiser. His body was on autopilot as he activated the Fatebreaker before ripping the car's door off its hinges. The flames were already pooling around the car.

"Oh, thank god," the officer said to him as blood dripped from his head, "The door was jammed. Can you—"

"Sorry about this."

"Huh—"

Izuku cut the man off with a distorted apology before he threw the officer out of the car and onto the road. The man rolled across the asphalt, but Izuku didn't care about that all too much.

He had to go deeper into the car to try to get the driver out. Izuku frowned as the seatbelt refused to give away. Izuku spared a glance at the flames and he frowned as he saw blue flames begin to envelop the car.

The temperature in the car began to rise and Izuku was thankful his mask filtered the worst of the putrid stench of burning fuel. Izuku tried one more time to disengage the seat belt, but the device held firm.

A lightbulb went off in his head. Izuku channelled wind chakra into his hand causing it to glow even under the light of the surrounding flames. Izuku felt his oxygen supply begin to dwindle as the car was enveloped by flames.

He ignored the cuts forming on his hand as he cut the seatbelt open. Izuku lifted the man onto his shoulders in a fireman's carry. Izuku wanted to leave through the other door, but a quick glance proved that to be impossible.

He now saw that the car was surrounded by flames on all sides. His entire body was slick with sweat and for the first time, Izuku noticed the smoke inside the car.

The fire had gotten inside the car.

In a burst of panic, Izuku channelled wind chakra across his entire arm and he sliced a large circle into the roof of the car. He kicked it off before dashing out of the car in a quick Body Flicker. Flames licked at him as he spread through, but luckily they didn't stick to him or the officer.

Izuku slowed to a stop in front of a crowd of panicked and disoriented people. A sea of cellphones was pointed in his direction and also at the burning building behind him.

"Hey could someone take him?" Izuku asked the crowd, but he received no offers. Idly, he noticed that a lot of the crowd were covered in burns which could have come from the other fire.

"I'll take him," said a woman with purple hair and red eyes and Izuku immediately handed the officer off.

"Thank you!" Izuku barely managed to get out before he turned to look at the burning building, "I've got to go!"

Izuku used the Body Flicker again to cross the street in an instant. He fought down his nausea before charging straight into the sea of flames. The heat sapped his energy and the flames ate away at him, but he ignored it as a litany of screams for help rushed over him.

There were men and women on the floor too weak to move and Izuku was frozen as he had no idea about who to help first. Thankfully, that choice was made a lot easier almost immediately.

Twin spouts of water spread across the entire nightclub extinguishing a lot of the flames right away. Izuku looked over his shoulder to see Backdraft controlling the waves of water.

Izuku picked up three people in rather awful shape before rushing for the exit. Backdraft barely glanced at him as he went by and Izuku was able to put the injured people down as they broke out into the open air.

He took many deep breaths as his skin was soothed by the cool night air. The people he had rescued mumbled words of thanks as Izuku carried them to where he had put the other officer.

As it turned out, a fire truck had made it to the nightclub with a supernatural speed which explained Backdraft's presence. There were also more experienced Pro Heroes and firefighters who were joining the rescue effort as they fought the surrounding towers of blue fire.

Naturally, all of this was now being filmed by onlooking civilians.

Izuku surveyed the damage and he was surprised to see the hulking man from before getting repelled by a shorter woman. The woman seemed to glide past his every hit before unleashing with a strong flurry of punches and kicks.

A powerful dropkick sent the big man sailing across the street and instead of continuing the fight, he rose to his feet and then jumped off into the skies in a random direction.

The woman did not follow.

"Miruko is impressive, isn't she?" Izuku turned to see the woman from earlier, "Here let me help you with these guys."

With her help, Izuku was able to set them all down one by one. The woman, seemingly very exhausted, stumbled, but she was able to steady herself with Izuku's help. Her hands settled on Izuku's hips and it was only because of the current situation that he was able to ignore that.

He set her down next to the officer he had rescued from the burning vehicle. The man looked him up and down a bit with a quizzical expression on his face. He was probably still out of it.

Izuku looked over his shoulder and he frowned as he saw the Miruko converse with the officer he had thrown from the burning car. He didn't think much of it until almost as one they turned and looked at him.

Oh, no.

"This is embarrassing since you saved me and my partner's lives, but I don't recognise you," the formerly unconscious officer said with some shame, "Who are you? Your gear makes it hard to tell."

"Uh, I'm—"

"A vigilante," the (formerly) helpful woman said as she sat down on the road, "He's Kage. The guy Kamui Woods has his panties in a—"

Izuku drowned those words out as the last of his adrenaline faded away. This allowed him to see. He saw the sea of phones following his every move. He saw the rescue heroes and Miruko stare at him with the latter beginning to walk towards him.

Had he gone crazy or inhaled too much petrol? What the hell was he still doing here? He was a noted vigilante in the aftermath of a villain attack on a very popular hero's nightclub. A cold feeling spread across his body as he met Miruko's gaze.

He had to get the hell out of here.

He disappeared in a powerful Body Flicker as he spread across the rooftops of Musutafu. He dropped his Transformation halfway, but he kept it up until he reached an alleyway near Kendou's gym.

He picked his bag out from behind a dumpster. He threw his mask inside and it was back to the rooftops again. Body Flicker after Body Flicker powered his body through the air.

The nightclub was over three hours while on foot and Izuku made it home in mere minutes. His window was open and Izuku snuck in once he saw the lights in the apartment were off.

He quietly walked over to the door and confirmed it was locked. He had his own key so it was good to know his mother had taken the precaution of locking the door.

Izuku made it back to his room and he shucked his clothes off almost immediately. His arms were dotted with burns that almost could have passed for sunburn. There were no blisters which according to a quick internet search was a good thing.

He just had to apply cold water to the burned area and that would be that. Within a few days, it would all clear up.

The other victims he had helped were not as lucky. Izuku had blocked it out in the moment, but their injuries had been awful. The burns had gone past the first few layers of skin to the sensitive flesh below. Izuku was sure that scars would be left behind and not just the physical sort.

If the burnt man had been inclined, Izuku would have suffered the same fate if not worse.

Enough was enough.

Izuku was done. He was not yet where he needed to be to help people. He had frozen twice because of his indecision. Looking back, he wasn't sure if the right choice had been made.

There were undoubtedly some serious casualties from the nightclub fire. Would it have been better if he had left the policemen to their fate and tried to help those inside the club?

Or would he have been caught in a stampede and trampled to death? Would the car have exploded if he had gone to the club and not helped the officers? The only reason it hadn't exploded was probably due to Backdraft's timely intervention.

The hero's fire agency was a long way away from Miruko's nightclub, but Izuku was glad they had made it when they had. He wasn't sure how badly things could have or would have gone if he'd been alone.

It was time to hang the mask up and focus on UA. He'd get the proper tutelage there and hopefully, he'd find a teacher he could trust who could help him master his chakra.

Suddenly, Izuku's phone let out a ding from within his pants. In his haste to get out of his clothes, he had forgotten his phone in his pants. He had taken to keeping it with him so he could call in help instead of asking victims to do so.

...He just kept forgetting to do so. The clothes under Kage's cloak were always similar if not identical to what he was wearing just in black. They were also bigger and so he tended to forget his phone was in there most of the time.

Izuku unlocked his phone and as he'd expected. There was coverage on the attack. Only one of the two villains had been identified. The one who had been getting ragdolled by Miruko. As it turned out, the man with the Quirk that manipulated his muscles was called...Muscular.

Fitting.

The man who Izuku had briefly encountered wasn't mentioned all that much. All that was said was that another villain had started the fire. Of course, these were all second-hand reports. The news on official sites was trickling in slowly. The heroes were probably still busy with first aid and rescue.

Izuku had no idea if the fire had been entirely suppressed or not.

Izuku knew that if he wanted to get better news, he had to hit the hero forums. As expected, there were videos, pictures and personal accounts that lined up with Izuku's experience of events.

More worryingly, there was ample footage of Kage. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise he didn't have his chakra rods with them. This incident was bound to catch Kendou's attention.

It was still weird that his best friend was a big fan of him albeit unknowingly. He wasn't looking forward to that conversation. If he ever even had it.

Surprisingly, the coverage on Kage was very positive. Most surprising of all was one of the police officers posting a video describing what Izuku had done.

It was the first time actual law enforcement had praised Kage.

"Don't let it get to your head," Izuku said as he continued to explore the forum, "You are done. Vigilantism isn't for you."

It still kinda went to his head.

Normally, Izuku would have stayed up for official reports instead of the often inaccurate reports from news sites. However, he was mentally and physically exhausted and coupled with his UA results coming later today, he was eager to sleep.

Izuku went to the bathroom and treated his burns with water and some antibiotic cream. They didn't hurt too much and he was sure they'd be mostly gone by the time he woke up.

Well, that more so if he was lucky.

Izuku got a bottle of water from the fridge before he walked into his room. His phone's screen was on catching his attention. He dismissed it as he saw a missed call from an unknown number.

It was probably a bot.

His phone beeped. Izuku immediately recognised it as his text app. He opened the app and he frowned as he saw the same number had sent him a message.

How did they even get his number? And at this time? What could be so important—

Izuku froze.

His chest tightened as he stared at the content of the message. His eyes flitted around the room in a panic before his eyes reread the message once more. Then twice more. Three times. Four. Ten. Twenty.

It stayed the same.

It was a picture with a caption underneath it. The picture was one of Kage carrying the unconscious club-goers he had managed to rescue. That wasn't important. What was important was the caption.

"I know your secret."

* * *

**Author Notes:**

**Guys, we reached 100 reviews on FFN. Massive thank you to all of who you reviewed. We reached this a lot sooner than I expected.**

**A filler-ish chapter with a twist at the end.**

**I've settled on what Izuku's gear will be. That's for later and so the first OC competition is closed. A big thank you to all those who responded, you gave me food for thought.**

**Question of the Chapter: Outside of Izuku, who would like to get One for All and why?**

**I love hearing from you guys. I'm so happy so many people are following and enjoying the story as it goes along so thank you all very much.**

**There are status updates on the discord server so you'll be the first to know how far along each chapter is.**


	10. "Do you like doughnuts?"

**Izuku as Kage by @Rustystar6 on Twitter. He is open to commission and really good. Check out his Twitter for more he is also on the server**

* * *

**A drawing of the chakra fruit by an anonymous artist.**

* * *

**We are back in business, baby. Thanks to anon and Rusty for the fanart. They are both great.**

* * *

"Catch your breath. We're not done yet!"

Sakura stared at her sensei standing opposite her. Her muscles burnt with exhaustion and her coils twinged and thrummed underneath her skin. Tsunade-shishou's arms were crossed as she looked up at the sky. Her peaceful demeanour didn't quite match the scenery.

A spray of boulders littered the training ground. Sakura didn't think she could have such enmity for inanimate objects, but these boulders were fast becoming the bane of her existence. Kakashi-sensei and Ino would have to make space at the top if things didn't get better soon.

It was simple. All she had to do was channel an amount of chakra dependant on the size of the boulder thrown at her. Following that, she had to throw a punch and release the pent up chakra in the very instant that her hand made contact with the boulder. Very simple.

Sakura took a look at her hand. Bleeding knuckles, swelling, scrapes, cuts and probably a few cracked bones. So maybe it wasn't _that_ simple. She probably should have worn the gloves Tsunade had gotten for her.

"I told you to wear gloves."

Was she that obvious?

"Yes, you are," Tsunade said with a smile on her face as she raised a boulder five times her size with remarkable ease, "Enough of that. You need to get your timing down. Gather chakra and then release it upon impact. You are overthinking things. With your control, it shouldn't be too hard."

Sakura begged to differ. Tsunade-shishou tended to underestimate her own genius. If it really were that simple, then she wouldn't be the only person in the world capable of punching someone to the moon. That hadn't happened yet, but she'd give it time. Jiraiya-sama and Naruto would be back in the village eventually.

"Don't try to understand it. Feel it," Tsunade said before she pulled a face as she went over her words, "On second thought, you should definitely try to understand it... It may backfire on you and you may just lose your arm. Maybe. Anyways, here, catch!"

Her master didn't have to correct herself. Understanding how things worked was one of Sakura's core tenets. Steamrolling her way through things never had and never would be her niche.

"Okay, but I'd like a second to understand so I can—Ah!"

Sakura was cut off as yet another boulder flew through the air at her. This time at far faster speeds than any of the others that came before it. She wouldn't have any time to dodge it or—and it was right in front of her.

Gather.

Sakura's hand pulsed with chakra. Her face was twisted into a snarl as she pulled her arm back and then threw it forward. Her fist met the boulder, many times its size and for the first time today, her hand _won_. A shower of pebbles washed over as the boulder all but caved before her mighty power.

And Release.

Through the flying debris, she could spy her master's proud smile and a war cry built in her chest. She took in a deep breath and reared her arm as another boulder flew at her.

"Sha—"

* * *

"—naro!" Izuku screamed as he punched the wall adjacent to his bed, "Ow! What the hell?"

Izuku's fist had met the wall and _lost_.

The flash of pain was enough to wake him up completely as he was roused from the clutches of sleep. His hand was pulsing with pain and it took a few moments for him to calm down.

What the hell were their walls made of? It looked like wood, but was it actually diamond? Maybe tempered steel? If he had punched the wall any harder, he may have needed a new hand...Izuku looked at where he had punched and frowned. His All Might Bronze Age poster had a fist-sized hole in it.

"This is just great," Izuku spoke aloud to himself, "They don't make those anymore! You stupid idiot! Why did you have to punch it?! If my hand wasn't so sore, I'd—gah!"

Okay, so _maybe_ he wasn't so calm after all...

"Izuku?" His mother knocked on the door making him clam up immediately, "I heard screaming. I'm coming in!"

The door began to turn open. Oh no. Izuku looked at his hand. Was it becoming swollen? It looked like it was getting swollen.

He had the presence of mind to hide both his hand and the damaged poster. The end result was him sitting against the wall with one hand below the blanket by his lap. His phone was nearby and he grabbed it with his good hand to lower any suspicions his mother may have had.

He looked completely natural and not suspicious in any way at all.

"Sorry for barging in. Are you okay? I heard—" his mother began as she walked in before her face switched from concern to...embarrassment? What was that about?

"What's wrong?" Izuku frowned as he took in his mother's flushed skin, "Are you okay?"

"U-uh," his mother seemed as though she wanted to be literally anywhere else. She turned away from him and instead looked in the opposite direction.

"Look, Izuku. I know you're growing up and all that—"

Oh, no. Did she know about the wall?

"—but you can't just do _that_. There's a time and place for everything and you shouldn't be so...noisy about it."

For a moment, Izuku sensed that something was off but he shook it off, "Is this about the loud bang just now?"

"That only happened because of a dream," Izuku said thinking back on just a few moments ago, "It was crazy... It felt so _real_. "

"W-What?"

His mother didn't respond and only stared at him blankly over her shoulder. The baleful and haunted look on her face made it seem as though her soul had completely left her body. Was she still tired? It was odd since his mother was definitely a morning person.

No, it couldn't be that. It had to be the poster. She could see that he damaged the poster, couldn't she? He should have moved a bit more to the right and then this conversation would be a lot less awkward.

With a sigh, Izuku threw off the blankets and his mother's face flickered through a bevy of emotions. From horror to confusion to relief and then right back to confusion.

"What happened to your hand?!"

Izuku frowned, "The dream? I threw a punch in my dream and ended up denting the wall. I hurt my hand so that's why I hid it from you."

"Oh, thank goodness," his mother said raising a hand to her chest before worry overcame her, "Come into the kitchen. There's some ice in the fridge."

"Okay, mom."

His mother turned to leave, but she stopped at the doorway, "Oh and Izuku?"

"Yes?"

"Don't ever do that to me again. Okay?"

Izuku blinked once and then twice.

"Do what?"

* * *

Izuku sat in his room with a bag of peas on his hand. The crazy start to the day had gotten his mind off of what had been plaguing him since last night. He unlocked his phone and once again looked at the message from the unknown number.

**[I know your secret.]**

It had taken Izuku about thirty minutes of mounting panic and stress to realise that Kamui Woods or Endeavor would not be busting through the wall to arrest him. If the messenger wanted the law to deal with him then they would have done so immediately and without hesitation.

He only had a few moments of relief before a new worry overtook. _Why_ didn't they say anything? If they had somehow gotten his number, probably through some top-secret hacking Quirk, then surely they knew his name as well. From there, it was a hop, skip and a jump to finding his address, school and even those Konoha documentaries.

Izuku had not sent a message to the person in question just yet. He wanted to just ignore it and act as if nothing happened, but at the same time, he knew that ignoring a problem never made it go away.

What was more was that today was the day he'd be getting his UA results. Izuku was confident he'd done enough, but there was always room for doubt. Plus, he had to find out if Kendou would be in the same class, and therefore dorm, as him or not. He'd much rather be with her than not.

There was nothing worse than the first day of school. Except for having to befriend up to 19 strangers all by himself. With Kendou there, that ceiling was lowered to 18 and she was way less of a mess socially than he was.

First things first, though, Izuku wanted to get a response out of whoever had messaged him. How could he not? That being said, he felt like he'd be making some sort of rookie mistake if he admitted to it on his phone. Would this person blackmail him or something?

Maybe they were one of the people who Kage had thwarted and they wanted revenge. Izuku could not see a situation where he got out of this scot-free. Still, though, he had to do something.

He had to meet whoever this was.

Izuku took out his phone and finally began to type out a response. Once he was done, Izuku hesitated for just a moment before pressing send. He put the peas back into his room before taking a quick shower.

"Takoba Beach at midday. Come alone."

It was now 11 AM. He would normally wake up earlier than that, but given the circumstances, he had fallen asleep rather late.

He made a point of ignoring his phone as he focused on the reason his hand hurt. It was a good thing that he did not use any chakra to punch the wall. Things could be a lot worse.

The pain was still there, but it wasn't nearly as bad as some of what's he been through. It still irritated him and it would probably remain for a few more days. If only there was a way to speed up the healing—

"...Wait a second."

Should he really try it? On his own body?

"It's not like I have a fish nearby or anything," Izuku said to himself as images of one the dreams he's been having flashed through his head.

This would be the acid test, so to speak. If for whatever reason, he was seeing visions of past Konoha warriors. Not only that, but he seemed to able to use their abilities.

That girl, _Sakura_ , he corrected himself the name clear as crystal in his mind. Sakura had been learning medical ninjutsu and a strengthening technique that made the Fatebreaker look like a joke.

During the exam, Izuku's body had been in a bad way. Yet, pink chakra had healed him and then he had used his master's— Sakura's master— technique. His mind had been flooded with information he did not know.

Information he now knew Sakura had learnt as his, or rather Sakura's, dreams had shown him.

The question now was whether or not he could still use what he had been shown. He thought back to the first vision. The one of Sakura healing the fish. She had used two handseals, one that was kind of like a modified version of the ox handseal.

It took him a few shots to get it right. His right hand still pulsed with pain and his fingers were becoming more and more swollen. Each attempt just felt off until he was finally able to get things right.

He did it multiple times to confirm he was comfortable with it. It still took him a bit too long to make it, but he was putting his fingers in the right place. That was more than enough.

Finally, he wove the handseals while channelling and moulding his chakra in a pattern he just somehow knew. He finished the handseal chain and...nothing. He tried again and again and still nothing. Izuku was on the verge of giving up when it finally happened. He focused on the image of Sakura healing the fish. The way he had felt her chakra twist and bend. The way the gash along the fish had mended itself.

He felt a slight shift in the feel of his chakra. It somehow felt more vibrant and alive. The drain on his reserves was minuscule but noticeable. The previous attempts hadn't used chakra at all.

Finally, the telltale green glow flickered to life on his hands. It wasn't a constant light like it had been for Sakura, though. It reminded him of a faulty light bulb. Flickering on and off as it struggled to remain alight.

He allowed the glow to die down on his right hand before pressing his left hand to his right hand. A strange awareness and knowledge entered his mind. It was almost as if an invisible third arm had sprouted from his body. The green glow faded away as he lost control, the strange sensation far too much to handle.

"What the hell was that?"

It was hard to describe what he had...seen? Or was it felt? The sensation he had felt had used none of his senses and yet it was extremely clear that it was not an illusion or trick of the mind.

It had only happened once his left hand was close to his swollen right hand. It was a clear part of the jutsu, though, so he just had to move on and try again. This time he would not be distracted by it.

His first attempt fizzled out immediately. He focused once more on the image of Sakura healing the fish and the way it's wound had slowly knitted itself back together. The feel of blood and slime on his hands and the warm green light of Sakura using the Mystical Palm Jutsu.

These images seemed to help as he managed to reactivate the jutsu. It sparked to life on both his hands and was a fair bit more luminous than his previous attempt. It still flickered every now and then, though. It was clearly not at Sakura's level, but the progress was encouraging.

"Okay, so mental imaging helps with this jutsu," Izuku said as he stared at his flickering hands, "That would probably go for all jutsu. This probably has to do with the mental energy aspect thing. If so then I probably need to focus on the wound itself when healing."

Izuku pressed his left hand to the wound and this time the flood of information did not throw him off. Not too much. He focused less on what his senses were telling him and more on what his chakra was trying to tell him.

The change in approach helped quite a bit. It was almost like listening to a foreign language that you barely knew. There was a stream of incomprehensible words that was filtered and strained into something he could only partially understand.

He had done some research on muscles and joints and tendons when researching for the Fatebreaker. He needed to how they all worked in tandem so his chakra could support and strengthen the correct areas. The field was called kinesiology.

Tsunade-shishou had proven the Fatebreaker to be extremely inefficient. Her strength enhancement technique had far less and perhaps even no backlash and it also had much better results. That did not mean the Fatebreaker was useless to him now, though.

Izuku was nowhere near the level of doctors or elite trainers, as evidenced by the backlash of the Fatebreaker. However, he knew enough to get by and he knew his body. So, while the stream of information was largely incomprehensible to him before, he now knew that the jutsu was telling him the state of his hand.

He already knew that his hand was in bad shape, but this was important news. The possibilities were endless. He could help diagnose injured people and spot injuries that other people may have missed. It would be invaluable in a crisis.

It would not be that easy, though.

"I need more medical knowledge if I want to be helpful," Izuku said to himself only vaguely aware that he had been speaking aloud for some time, "Right now, I can only tell that I have micro-fractures on my bones. That is what is causing the swelling and bruising."

Izuku channelled his chakra, or rather his _healing_ chakra, into the affected area. He could feel a sort of discomfort as his bones were slowly put back together. The pain and swelling in his hand began to ebb as he focused on healing the damage.

After what to have been around thirty seconds, Izuku's hand was back to normal. He deactivated the Mystical Palm and tested his hand out. A broad smile broke out on his face as he detected no signs of pain or discomfort.

He had just healed his own hand.

Izuku's hand twitched almost on its own. He desperately wanted to write everything that he had just learnt down, but he could not chance it. His knowledge of anything chakra-related would be all in his mind, for now at least. Except for the scroll of course.

The last thing he needed was for it to be found. In all honesty, it would probably be dismissed as nonsense, but a small part of him was worried that his secret would just get blown wide open.

Nonetheless, it was good progress. It also made him realise that he would probably have to figure out a way to reverse engineer Tsunade-shishou's super strength. He had used the Cherry Blossom Impact (and what a terrible name that was) to neutralise the zero-pointer.

There was probably footage of that moment, as well as of him healing himself. He could explain it away as momentarily going beyond his limits, but sooner or later they'd expect him to be pulling that off.

Plus, the breakdown of his Quirk needed some serious adjustment. Kage's use of handseals was fairly well-known. It would be, at the very least, odd that Izuku's Quirk worked in a similar way. He could also play dumb, but it was a matter of time before he got caught.

*DING*

His phone dinged once and then twice and then it was like an infinite flurry of bell noises. He got to his phone and managed to shut it off. He expected this sort of stunt from Kendou and so he got ready to shut her down.

It was not Kendou who had messaged him.

In fact, two different people had messaged him. The first was from his blackmailer— for lack of a better word. He expected a sinister response or for law enforcement to bust through his window. A hostile response was to be expected for someone so evil that they would stoop to blackmail.

He got something else instead.

**[Unknown: Great! I'll pick you up and then we can go out for a meal? I know this American style diner that is to _die_ for!]**

Izuku blinked.

He typed a message back immediately.

**[Did you send this to the right number?]**

The response was just as swift.

**[Unknown: Yep. Wait, you _are_ Kage, right? Black cloak and cool mask? Wanted vigilante?]**

**[Unknown: Where _did_ you get the mask? I'm asking for a friend.]**

What was going on? Were all extortionists this...Kendou?

"She'd kill me if she heard me say that," Izuku couldn't help but say to himself before turning back to what was a rather vexing conversation.

**[Just be at the Beach by 12.]**

Speaking of which, he kind of wanted to open his acceptance letter with Kendou. She'd been a big part of his journey even the part she didn't know about.

Somehow it felt appropriate that they found out together. Would it be too late for them to organise a get-together of sorts between their families? He had to ask soon, though. Who knew what time the packages would arrive?

Wait. Should he call her? It would be quicker than texting, after all. He really wanted to find out with her. That was what best friends did, right? It was kind of weird, though. Or was it? They'd had a heart to heart on the floor of a sweaty fighting ring. It did not get much weirder than that.

"Just call her."

Izuku whirled around to see his mother holding a laundry basket.

"M-Mom, what a surprise," Izuku felt his cheeks burn up at his mother's downright devious smile, "What are y-you doing here?"

"Laundry," his mother's was way too wide. She looked as though she were a shark that had smelt blood in the water.

He did not like the tone his mother had used either. It sounded like him when he found a new piece of All Might merchandise. Or Kendou when she had seen his chakra rods. Or him when he found a new hero with an interesting Quirk. Or Kendou when she found a new person to fight with.

He was getting off track here.

"How much did you hear"

"Enough," his mother said as she placed the hamper down, "Call Kendou. I'd really like to meet the girl who has been beating up my son and cutting up his hand."

Oh, no. He had blamed that on Kendou, didn't he?

"Sounds great," Izuku said with a weak smile even as his stomach rolled, "I'm going to the beach to train. Bye!"

He was already in suitable gear. So he sidled past his mother and her smug grin as she began to pack away the clothes. He speed-walked to the door and was just about to enter the living room when he heard his mother call after him.

"Izuku!"

Izuku held back a sigh before turning back to his mother who was peeking out his door.

"I forgot to tell you something. Mitsuki called me and said you should check your phone. Or at least that's what I think. She was shouting at someone on her side too..."

That sounded about right for Aunt Mitsuki. Izuku complied and took his phone as he remembered there being a flurry of unread messages. He finally found it and blinked. He stared at his screen. Oh, no. This was going to be just great. As if today couldn't get any more difficult.

"What is it?" his mother asked and he put on a weak smile.

"It's Kacchan," Izuku looked down at the bundle of messages Bakugou had sent him, "He's downstairs and wants to talk about the exam."

"Oh," his mother said her smile dying down. He was about to leave when she added.

"Are you fine with going to see him?"

She was worried. Understandably. The incident between him and Bakugou had probably been good for his mother and Mitsuk's relationship. Anyone with a working brain could tell Kacchan was abrasive to everyone.

They probably just did not think Bakugou would go as far as to attack him. Izuku knew better than that, though. Bakugou was the reason he'd almost drowned in a river...and also the reason he had chakra.

Needless to say, it was hard to say how he felt about Bakugou.

Still, though, his mother and Bakugou's mother were longtime friends. He could not and would not let his and Bakugou's mess interfere with their mothers' friendship. It would hurt Izuku more if he had a hand in ruining that.

"I'll be fine," Izuku reassured his mother and he did believe that. If push came to shove, he'd be able to take care of himself.

"Okay," his mother said a more genuine smile spread across her face, "And I want to see Kendou and her family tonight! We could go out to a restaurant or something to celebrate! So, call her!"

"I will!" Izuku said over his shoulder before walking outside. He picked up his phone and dialled Kendou who picked up almost immediately.

"Izuku? Hey, what's up? Did you get your UA results yet? No way! How—"

"N-No, I didn't!" Izuku said a bit louder than he meant to. It was just Kendou but even then hearing her voice right in his ear was...something.

"Why'd you call then?" Kendou asked before adding, "Not that I didn't want you to, but this is kind of out of character for you."

Oh, he knew.

"I wanted us to open our UA acceptance letters together," Izuku said barely pausing to breathe, "You don't have to say yes. My mom wants to meet you too and I thought it'd be cool—"

"Sounds great. Let's do it!"

"—if we found together. You don't have to say yes—"

"Yes!"

"—if you don't want to. You know what? I'll just tell my mom—"

"IZUKU!"

Izuku flinched away from the sheer volume of Kendou's scream. Even through his phone's tinny speakers, her voice had packed a real punch. There was still a faint ringing in his ear as he brought his phone back to his ear.

"Uh, yes?"

"I was about to call you to ask the same thing," Kendou said and she took in a breath before letting it out, "Okay, I was complaining to my parents about that stupid prank you pulled and now they want to meet you too. They might make things weird. I already told you about the making friends thing and dad knows we spar so he's also interested and—"

"Kendou! You're rambling," Izuku brought her rambling to a halt. He was, understandably, good at recognising someone spiralling. Unfortunately, that ability didn't seem to apply to himself.

"You _actually_ are rubbing off on me..." Kendou said with fake disappointment, "What's next? Getting my ass kicked by an ancient secretary? Are you still scared of Mai?"

Not this again. It had taken Kendou so _long_ to drop the whole Mai beating him up thing. It was like she didn't understand that even if Mai could beat Izuku up then she'd also be able to beat Kendou up too! He had tried pointing that out, but she'd taken it as him confessing to losing to Mai.

"I need to go now," Izuku said realising that he still had to the beach, "Just speak to your parents and we'll organise things properly."

"Got it. Man, I hope I beat you..."

Izuku held his tongue and instead said, "How much did you get again? Because I got—"

Izuku ended the call right there and then. He smiled as he imagined Kendou freaking out after he baited her twice. She'd probably take it out on whichever nutter took her up in boxing. Even he wasn't that crazy.

In a pure boxing match, Kendou would thrash him. That was just the facts. If they actually made things similar to normal combat then things were a lot fairer. He still needed escrima sticks to really hang with her, but he got by using some tricks with chakra.

Izuku finally got to the bottom floor and he was about to run off to the beach when a hand grabbed onto his shoulder. He turned around and his smile dropped as he met the gaze of a scowling Bakugou.

"I've been waiting for thirty minutes!" Bakugou growled as he held onto the scruff of Izuku's shirt.

"I-I had things to do," Izuku said as he slowly got out of Bakugou's rather tight grip. His shirt was probably going to smell like nitroglycerin for the rest of the day. It smelt like burnt sugar, but that not something you told Bakugou unless you had a death wish.

He did _not_ like being told that he smelt sugary. Burnt or no.

"Listen up, Deku," Bakugou said as he crossed his arms, "Once you get into UA then don't even think of trying to outshine me. I was supposed to be the only one from our school and you ruined that. Ever since I—"

Bakugou frowned and looked away from Izuku as he muttered, "Ever since that holiday, you've been different. You hid your Quirk for years and pretended to be this weak and nice brat!"

The inflexion on the word 'nice' was caked with sarcasm.

"Kacchan, I—"

"Shut up!" Bakugou turned back a snarl twisting his features, "I don't care if you were able to beat that villain or that you saved my life! I could have saved myself I wanted to! I'm going right to the top and you better not be in my way! You got that, Deku?!'

He didn't wait for an answer.

Bakugou barged past Izuku their shoulders slamming into each other. Bakugou trudged away and despite himself, Izuku let him walk. Izuku _wanted_ to say that he would be the next number one hero.

He wanted to say that one day even All Might himself would concede to Izuku. He wanted to say that the number one spot was going to be his and no else's and that everyone else was just wasting their time. He wanted to say that Bakugou had to watch out for _him_ or else he would be the one that was pushed aside.

Izuku did not say anything of that.

He just let Bakugou leave.

Things would probably escalate really quickly if he did say that and in all honesty, Izuku would have probably been a part of the problem too. Wrapped up with the admiration and respect he had for Bakugou, there was an undeniable undercurrent of anger that he couldn't quite shake.

That angry monster within him reared its head in moments like these. Moments where Bakugou talked to him and treated him like he was a non-issue. A non-factor in his quest for number one.

It pissed Izuku, off.

"I'll knock that arrogance out of you someday, Kacchan, " Izuku said as he stared in the direction his friend had taken off of in, "Believe it."

For right now, it was better to bury any anger he felt. He still had things to do after all. Izuku waited until Bakugou was gone before ducking into a nearby alley.

A few handseals later and he was bathed in chakra smoke as his body transformed in an instant. He checked himself using his phone. He had transformed into a nondescript man with short black hair and brown eyes that was a few inches taller than him.

He unlocked his phone to check the time and he smirked at the message from Kendou.

**[You are _so_ gonna get these hands.]**

It was followed by a boxing gloves emoji and more than just a few middle fingers.

Maybe he shouldn't have done that?

"It's too late now," Izuku said and he cringed at the rather high pitch of his voice, "I need to get that voice imitation down soon. I look thirty but sound fifteen. I bet that will intimidate the hell out of my blackmailer."

Speaking of which, he had about ten minutes to get there. A Body Flicker would be ideal, but he really didn't want to spill his guts. Still, though, it was a necessary sacrifice if he wanted to get the drop on his blackmailer.

If only he had one of those anti-vomiting pills Yaoyorozu had made for Uraraka. That would be pretty helpful, right about now. Izuku went through the Body Flicker's handseals and his body shimmered with chakra before he took off at speed towards Takoba Beach.

He could only hope that this would go smoothly.

* * *

It was a lot harder than one would think to be inconspicuous at a beach junkyard. As always, there was no foot traffic and only the occasional car passed by. There was the chance that whoever it was already here.

It was why he had taken the precaution of transforming before using the Body Flicker. Izuku had painted the inside of a trash can with his breakfast upon arrival before finding a vantage point on one of the stacked cars.

He really hoped no one had seen him arrive.

He could see anyone arriving at the beach and by virtue of him being inside an old car, they could not see him. It was not his first choice for a beach, but there was quite a bit less junk around.

It was not a big enough difference for most to notice, but considering he had learnt some chakra fundamentals here it easy for him to see. Maybe the government had decided to do something about it. If it had been a hero, Izuku was sure he would have heard about it by now.

Midday came and went and Izuku was still the only person in sight. He checked his phone, but there was still no word from his blackmailer. The only message was from Kendou confirming details for the UA reveal.

"Okay, so I spoke to my parents and they were a bit too happy. Anyways, they booked a reservation at Naboo's tonight. It's at 9 PM so the UA letters should arrive before then. Then after we both get accepted, I beat you up in the dojo tomorrow. Sound good?"

"Is the last part really necessary?"

"Yes."

"Fine, then. I'll beat you up tomorrow."

After his last message came a stream of emojis and some rather heated words from Kendou. Oh, well. That was a shame. What was he gonna do? _Not_ tease her? He rarely had the upper hand against her.

It was high time he had some fun too.

Izuku was about to type a response when he caught movement in the corner of his eye. He put his phone away as a car rolled into the parking lot. It was a blue sedan in very good condition. The driver parked their car before switching their engine off.

Izuku waited for the driver to get out, but they remained inside their car. He tried to get a better look at the driver, but at that moment his phone beeped. He looked at the message and a kernel of worry formed in his chest.

"I'm in the blue car."

No jokes or questions or anything. Just short and to the point.

Admittedly, it made Izuku nervous about what laid ahead. The cheeriness his blackmailer had shown earlier was clearly a facade of some sort. Now that was clearly out the window. Izuku opened up his bag and grabbed Kage's mask.

He slung it on his back before going out the side of the car that was hidden from the driver's view. His shoes sunk into the sand and he had to shake it off. Izuku put Kage's mask and he checked in a cracked mirror to see that it was on right.

He dropped his transformation of an ordinary dude and a few seconds later, Kage existed once more. The black cloak provided an odd comfort to Izuku. The nervousness and terror he felt faded away as soon as he had the cloak and mask.

He wasn't Izuku Midoriya when he wore this, he was Kage— a vigilante so good not even Kamui Woods or Eraserhead could catch. He had saved many people and faced off against just as many criminals if not more.

He had this.

Izuku walked through the junkyard until he could see the sedan again. Its driver side door was open and he could see that someone was sitting with their legs out. He still couldn't make out their features though.

He charged up a Body Flicker and took off. He landed in front of blackmailer which ended up giving _her_ quite the fright. She shrank back into the car as she looked up at him.

"Uhhhhhhh...hi?"

She had purple hair and black eyes that were flitting up and down as she looked up at him. She wore casual jeans and a hoodie that was unzipped. The thing that caught his attention though was the fancy necklace around her neck.

He had seen that before.

He studied the woman's face closely and it only took him a few seconds to remember it. Her eyes were a different colour than he was used to, but her face was largely the same.

"I know you."

Sumire Utsusu, independent journalist and the reason Kage was popular looked up at him. She had a shaky smile on her face before she finally spoke.

"H-hey, Kage. Long time no s-see. Your cloak looks _great_. The mask looks shiny too..."

So, his blackmailer was not some scummy crimelord or a devious extortionist. No, instead she was the woman who had recorded him using his powers and exposed Kage to the whole of Japan.

"What do you want?" His mask distorted and warped his voice and it only enhanced the impatience and irritation in his voice.

Sumire tensed up even more somehow before she reached behind her for something. Izuku flared his chakra as he prepared to counterattack only for it to flow away as she offered up a takeaway bag with what looked to be a bakery's logo on the side.

"Do you like doughnuts?"

"...What?"

* * *

Sumire's sedan was pretty comfortable on the inside. The seats were wide and made of high-quality leather. The dashboard had a ton of buttons and features and the aircon was silent yet strong enough to cool him despite the blazing sun.

Sumire had closed her door once he had gotten in the passenger seat. That had been about a minute ago. The doughnuts she had bought were slowly losing their warmth and despite the situation at hand, he was beginning to feel hungry.

Of course, he wasn't a fool. He'd seen enough movies to know not to trust the food...but the bakery was a _really_ good one. He had never been to Senyaku Bakery before, but it was regarded as one of the best bakeries out there.

Man, he was hungry.

He glanced at Sumire who seemed to find the junkyard very interesting. She was rigid in her seat and seemed to be too scared to look at him. She had bags under her eye and she held a thermos in her hand. She must have had a rough night to look this... dishevelled.

In all honesty, Izuku was growing impatient and increasingly nervous too— a scared woman in a car with a cloaked man did not a good picture paint. She was probably scared because she thought he was a hardened criminal.

The mask and cloak probably did not help either. He was supposed to be a champion of the people. If he was scaring Sumire so much to the point where she couldn't speak then he was doing something wrong.

"So..." he began and she whirled towards her eyes blown wide open, "What flavours did you get?"

She lost her petrified expression for a moment as surprise and confusion flickered on her face, "What?"

"The doughnuts," he held the bag up for emphasis, "What flavours did you get?"

"Oh," Sumire said and she stared at him for a moment before answering, "A mixed bag really. Cinnamon Twist, Strawberry Frosted, uh, Chocolate Frosted, Caramel—"

"I like chocolate," Izuku said and just like that, silence reigned once more.

This was approaching his conversations with Yaoyorozu levels of awkwardness.

"Okay, this is getting nowhere," Izuku said and he turned to face her fully, "Let me just go through what I know so far. I saved you from some criminals a while back. Right at this very beach."

"You did," Sumire confirmed and she capped it off with a curt nod, "Thank you for that, by the way."

"N-No problem," Izuku stammered before forcing his tone back to being assertive, "I am a wanted vigilante who some very prominent heroes want to catch."

"You are."

"You're an investigative reporter who focuses a lot on heroes, villains and vigilantes."

"I am."

"You texted me a picture of me at the nightclub fire to my personal number."

"I did."

"You blackmailed me into coming to this meeting."

I di—What did you just say?" Sumire's face twisted into a frown, "I did _not_ blackmail you!"

"Come again?" Izuku said his warbled voice thick with confusion, "You _forced_ me to come here. Then, you tried to play mind games with your texts."

"Mind games?" Sumire said aghast, "I was a little drunk and trying to be _nice_ to you. What would make you think I was trying to play mind games with you? Who does stuff like that?"

Kendou...

"And while I do want to speak with you, I do not want to blackmail you!

Izuku's frustration bubbled over just a bit, "Then why didn't you say that?!"

The escalating argument ground to a halt. Sumire stared at Izuku for a bit before turning away and taking her phone out. He saw her scroll around for a bit before she dropped it into her lap. Immediately, Sumire dropped her face into her hands.

"You know what? This one's on me. I sounded _weird_ ," Sumire's voice was muffled by her hands, "No wonder you thought I was trying to shake you down. I'm not usually like that. Ugh, it's just this new lead I'm working on is testing me apart at the seams"

Sumire looked up at hi Her very posture screamed exhaustion. Slumped shoulders, bloodshot eyes and he looked in the backseat only to find a cornucopia of crushed coffee cups. What could possibly be driving Sumire so far to the edge?

"How did you get my number?" Izuku asked causing Sumire to perk up, "And why did you message me instead of—"

"Busting you to the cops?"

Izuku nodded.

"The reason I didn't bust you to the cops is simple," Sumire said before taking a swig from her thermos, "I don't trust them."

Izuku tilted his head as he stared at Sumire, "Come again?"

"I don't trust the police to handle this one," Sumire said speaking a lot slower as if her talking speed was the problem, "That goes for a lot of heroes too. I feel like something bad might come my way if I had gone to them."

It was one thing for her to not trust the police, but to not trust the heroes? Izuku could not comprehend it. What on earth could be so momentous that Sumire would be too _scared_ to go to _heroes_ for help?

And what did it have to do with him?

"Look, Sumire," he began his tone apologetic, "I understand that you want to do the right thing, but the heroes are meant to help us. Whatever is you're struggling you can tell them. Or the police."

"How old are you?" Sumire's tone was cutting and acerbic, "I _want_ to go to the heroes, but if I came to them with what I had I'd been ruined. Same if I published what I have now. I need to do more digging. The police and the heroes would bot believe what I have to say!"

Sumire was breathing heavily after her abrupt rant. A scowl was etched onto her face as she glared at Izuku. He shrunk back a bit at the anger and frustration in Sumire's tone. It reminded him of his talk with Kacchan not too long ago.

"Sorry for blowing up at you," Sumire said just above a whisper, "This whole thing is just tearing me apart at the seams. I've been in this daze for a few weeks now. You can leave if you want to."

After all of that, Izuku knew he could not leave. He may not be able to help her directly, but surely they could figure out something. He wasn't even trained! He was just a fifteen going on sixteen-year-old masquerading as an actual difference-maker.

He was supposed to become the Number One Hero. The next All Might, but _better_. He doubted any heroes had done stuff like this. Vigilantes were not looked upon nicely by heroes or villains.

If he ever got exposed, he would probably never even be taken on as a sidekick, let alone be able to build an actual hero agency. The smart thing to do would be to leave Sumire and Kage and all of this behind and try to become a hero— the right way.

"Where do I fit into this?" Izuku asked calmly— a strong contrast to the furore inside of him.

"I was desperate," Sumire admitted, "Don't get me wrong. You saved my life. I owe you a lot for that, but if I could I would go for someone else that I know, but they're too close to the situation to act rationally."

"I'm not as great as you think I am," Izuku said turning his gaze to the junkyard, "That night I saved you? That was just luck. The same goes for all my other rescues. I don't have the connections or instincts of heroes or resourcefulness of other vigilantes or the killer instinct of villains."

"I'm just me," Izuku finished with a sigh.

This meeting was making him lose any enthusiasm he had for the dinner later today. The car was silent for a few seconds before Sumire spoke.

"Mask."

"What did you say?" Izuku asked a she turned to Sumire.

Sumire was frowning at him her brow furrowed in disgust, "Take off your mask and just stop this vigilante thing if you're gonna start being a coward all of a sudden."

"Look Kage, if that is even your real name," Sumire said as she stared at him, "I've seen what you can do. Clones, swapping with objects, this weird weapon creation thing, _deflecting a bullet_..."

Sumire's stare became glassy before focusing once more. She took a deep swig of her coffee before continuing to speak.

"You weren't scared when I was being held at gunpoint. You weren't scared when you took down the Red Jackets," Sumire's voice filled with energy and fervour, "I read _all_ the police reports on you. Yes, I know they're sealed off. Eraserhead said you covered hundreds of metres in a flash and that you _cut_ his capture tape."

"He didn't go into a lot of detail of course. Typical hero," Sumire muttered the last part under her breath, "It got me thinking, though. I researched some of his fights and I've seen that scarf withstand a lot of stuff— even blades."

Izuku recognised when someone was about to go on a tirade and just link different pieces of information together. It was a trait he had that had served him well, but now it fell as though that very same trait was in Sumire. A feeling of foreboding came over him as he began to connect the dots as she spoke.

"Those videos are all outdated too so I bet the scarf is even stronger now," Sumire theorised only serving to stoke the flames of his nervousness, "It looks like cloth, but probably has some special metal lining it or something. It _is_ possible that you have a Quirk that can do that, but I know for a fact that your Quirk isn't like that."

"And even so Eraserhead would have had your Quirk erased regardless. Based on what I saw on that beach, you can't be a Mutant type— those were clearly Emitter type abilities. "

Sumire's deduction skills were top-notch which made sense. The quality of her articles were all high and there was a reason her site was becoming _the_ site for hero news— if it wasn't already.

"My point is you can do stuff even some top heroes can only dream of," Sumire said apparently out of investigative reporter mode, "And I know you're a good person or you wouldn't be doing all of this for free. Nor would you have chosen to meet me instead of killing me."

She didn't really think he'd do something like that? Did she? A lot of vigilantes were _violent_ so it was not an unreasonable assumption to make. How desperate did Sumire have to be to risk getting killed all for some scoop?

Izuku met Sumire's eyes and to his surprise, they were still a solid black. The telltale red glow that signified her Video Camera Quirk was nowhere to be seen. Even her phone was clearly locked and not recording.

"You're not recording this?" Izuku asked and Sumire shook her head.

"I want you to trust me," she said and for better or worse something in her tone made Izuku believe her.

"I could have planned an ambush for you. Tons of heroes want a piece of you. I mean Kamui would snap a dog's neck if he got to get another crack at you."

"...Okay," Izuku grimaced at the unfortunate visual she evoked, "There's no denying it. You know a lot more about what I can do than even my friends and family. I do appreciate what you said earlier, but I am not who you think I am."

Izuku took a deep breath before making a handseal. Sumire raised a brow in confusion before the car was flooded with smoke. The chakra vapours were eliminated quickly by the aircon.

Izuku pulled his mask off and turned to face Sumire. Her mouth hung open and her eyes bulged as she stared at him in shock. She pointed a finger at him that was shaking quite a bit.

"You're a kid?!"

Izuku was about to answer when a car parked beside them. Two blonde men—one young and one old appeared from nowhere and walked past the car. They didn't look inside or towards them, but both Izuku and Sumire were spooked by it.

Izuku turned to Sumire once the two men had gone down the beach. Her expression was still a mishmash of confusion and shock and many others. He scratched the back of his neck as a sheepish smile spread across his face.

"You mentioned something about a diner?"

* * *

The drive to the diner Sumire had mentioned was awkward. Sumire had not asked any questions or said much of anything. He suspected she was still processing what he had told her. Izuku didn't say anything either as he began to gather the courage and fortitude for what laid ahead.

Sumire must have had dozens of questions.

The diner was in a rather rough part of town. Potholes in the road, cracked sidewalks, overfilled trashcans and bent lamp posts surrounded them as they parked in a dilapidated and half-full parking lot.

They got out and Sumire locked the car before Sumire motioned to a man sitting under a tree in the parking lot they were in.

All she did was point towards her car and the man gave her a firm nod before they were off. They had to cross the road to get to the diner itself. The road was fairly busy with cars with many ignoring the traffic lights.

When the pedestrian light turned green, Izuku had tried to cross and then doubled back to avoid a speeding SUV. In the end, he and Sumire were forced to commit a crime as they crossed when the pedestrian light was red which was also the only opportunity they would have had otherwise.

Despite it being nothing in terms of crime, Izuku was still wary of a lurking hero or police officer. It was ridiculous considering what he had done as Kage, but somehow it being daytime made things very different.

"There are no cops or heroes around here," Sumire said as she spotted him looking around as they crossed the road, "This is a _low-priority_ zone after all."

Sumire's sneer was every bit as sour as Bakugou's regular expression which said a lot. They reached the doors to the diner. The word Akahon was emblazoned on a faded sign just above the door.

Izuku stepped inside the air-conditioned diner and he was surprised by the decor of the place. It was definitely an American style diner for sure. It was exactly what he expected to see in older movies from America.

The booths had an orange colour that was just a bit faded. There was quite the number of other patrons in the restaurant. They settled into a secluded booth where no one would hear them have what was going to be a long conversation.

The waitress took both their orders after Sumire insisted on paying. She returned to give Sumire a large mug of black coffee and she gave him a chocolate milkshake topped with sprinkles and marshmallows and ice creams.

Sumire stared at his milkshake her expression rather blank, "You're going with _that_? Should I just buy you a bag of sugar to go with it?"

Izuku felt his cheeks burn up, "I-I just like it."

He didn't have a sweet tooth at all. Not at all. He bought this on a whim. He could stop when he wanted to. He had also not sneaked the doughnuts Sumire had bought him into his bag and even if he _had_ done that, it wasn't a crime.

Not much was said as they both silently agreed to wait for the food. Izuku forwarded a message from Kendou about the details of tonight to his mother. It included the numbers of Kendou's parents so he was sure that if anything changed then his mother would tell him before they left.

After some time their food arrived and they both dug in. Izuku was feeling rather hungry so he was just a tiny bit rabid in his motions. Sumire cared a lot less as she ate with less grace than an elephant on roller skates.

They were about halfway dome with their food when Sumire spoke again.

"So, tell me," Sumire said as she put her fork and knife down, "What's your name?"

"You don't know my name?" Izuku was sure his brows were all the way to his hairline, "How? You got my number from me!"

There were _so_ many ways for someone to find the name attached to a number. Izuku could probably find a hundred apps that did that right now. If she didn't know his name then how did she have his number? Was she a master hacker or was it just dumb luck?

"First of all, I wasn't lucky," Sumire groused as she put down her mug, "Second, do you know you mumble under your breath a lot?"

For once, Izuku wouldn't allow himself to feel embarrassed about his habit, "How do you have my number?"

"Remember that picture I sent you of that fire at the nightclub?" Sumire asked and Izuku nodded, "Well, I took that photo."

What?

"That can't be right," Izuku said as he thought back to the night, "You would have had to—"

Wait.

"That was _you_? The woman with the purple hair?" Izuku asked drawing a nod from Sumire.

He barely remembered any faces from that night. Other than the heroes, Izuku only remembered Muscular, one eye and all, as well as the disfigured man with the blue fire. In his panic, he hadn't registered much beyond basic traits.

"I had a lot of makeup on then, but yeah," Sumire confirmed, "When you handed that guy to me I took your phone out your pocket and then I returned it later. I thought I messed up when I touched your hip, but you didn't even notice. I messaged myself from your phone and then deleted the message. You didn't even have a password."

Izuku took a moment to process that, "I'll try to get past that. Anyways, my name is Izuku Midoriya. The reason I can't help you is because I'm going to UA's hero course."

"Izuku Midoriya?" Sumire said as if savouring a glass of wine, "Wait you're the Konoha Kid?! I thought you looked familiar...This makes everything so much easier!"

"Easier? How?"

Getting recognised as the Konoha Kid was always a pain.

"I doubt you know this, but items from Konoha have been selling at exorbitant prices at private auctions," Sumire said piquing his interest immediately, "I only know this because of someone I have some history with. Apparently, the ruins haven't been fully explored but for some reason, people are after the little that has come free."

Izuku thought back to how Konoha was big enough and it was filled to the brim with many items like plates, vases and of course weapons. Izuku had a ton of them at home himself. After all, some were touting Konoha as the birthplace of Quirks. Surely, people just wanted stuff from such a famous place?

Then again, his mask was borderline magic. It had a filter that blocked out everything and it distorted his voice. Plus, it seemed extremely resilient. It had withstood a blast from Bakugou without so much as a scratch.

"I have a few stuff from Konoha," Izuku said which seemed to surprise Sumire, "None of that stuff is special except for the mask. Is that what people are after?"

Sumire shook her head almost immediately, "It's all about the weapons. Shuriken, kunai, swords and stuff like that. At the same time, the family that owns the island Konoha is on had to get some heroes over there for bodyguard duty."

"Which heroes?"

"Strong ones. Gang Orca, Selkie and Edgeshot's agency were all hired to protect the archaeologists as well as those charged with transporting artefacts."

"Is artefact theft that big of a problem?"

"It's what Muscular and that guy you fought were after," Sumire's casual revelation rocked Izuku, "The guy with the blue fire is apparently called Dabi. He's a wanted man who has killed a lot of high-profile sidekicks and even some heroes. The Hero Commission thinks it's an alias."

"I thought that was a bank robbery," Izuku said before a hint of suspicion leaked into his voice, "Your website said it was a bank robbery."

Instead of being offended, Sumire simply finished her coffee in one large gulp. She called for a refill from the waitress and feeling a little petty Izuku ordered another milkshake.

"It _was_ a bank robbery...of sorts," Sumire said as she smiled at his attempt at pettiness, "The artefacts were being kept in a private storage facility that is guarded by heroes from a lot of prominent agencies. Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, Crust, Ryukyu and _Endeavor_."

"All of those agencies are employed at the same time?"

It was _always_ a big deal whenever hero agencies collaborated. In emergencies, it was nothing new. One of Izuku's favourite fights was Best Jeanist working together with Crust against a slippery villain.

The way Best Jeanist had used his Quirk was amazing. He had used it to control Crust as if he were a puppet of some sort. Izuku could still see the way Best Jeanist had tied the villain up using his blue jean fibres—

* * *

Sakura stared up at the old woman using chakra strings to bind her. She tried to move, but no matter what she did nothing happened. Chiyo was in complete control of her body.

The chakra strings spread out from Chiyo's splayed hand like a spider web. There were numerous strings, some pierced Sakura's skin while others were wrapping around her to restrain her like a rope.

"What the hell is this, you old hag?" Sakura growled as she tried and failed to break free from the chakra strings, "This is so stupid, Chiyo! Suna is meant to be our ally!"

"Then you should have protected Lord Fifth," Chiyo murmured under her voice and she moved her hands forcing Sakura to a kneeling position, "Konoha stole our business and let our youngest ever Kazekage and his siblings die. I think killing the Hokage's protege is an equal exchange or least a good start.."

"You were the one who waited to tell us about Akatsuki. Temari and Kankurou would have never been taken otherwise."

"Taken?" Chiyo's tone was dripping with putrid hate, "That's all that happened?! They were taken! Nothing more!"

A sharp and bitter bark of laughter escaped Chiyo's mouth. She laughed and laughed until she fell quite all of a sudden. Her fingers twitched and Sakura punched herself in the face.

Okay, Chiyo was dead.

"Your Kage won't be happy with this!" Sakura said as she began to build up chakra, "How would you explain this to Baki? The alliance and financial aid are pivotal to your village especially after they got Gaara and his siblings."

Chiyo's smile was devilish and haunting especially on a face so weathered and beaten.

"Who do you think ordered this attack? Our invasion won't fail this time."

That's all Sakura needed to know.

Chiyo took out a kunai and took a step forward, seemingly wanting to do this the old-fashioned way, but she was frozen in place as chakra exploded from Sakura. Lightning chakra. The electricity flowed up the chakra strings and into Chiyo's body.

Chiyo's body froze as the electricity wreaked havoc on her body. Lightning wasn't Sakura's best element, but Tsunade-shishou and Kakashi-sensei had taught her enough to be helpful.

Chiyo dropped to the floor wriggling like a fish on land. It was only once Chiyo grew still that Sakura stopped her attack. Her muscles were a little stiff but that was nothing compared to what had almost happened.

Chiyo's body was frozen in a standing position. It stayed that way before falling backwards onto the floor. Her hand still clutched a kunai tightly. Sakura let out a sigh before taking out a scroll. Inoichi would be able to read her mind. Sakura had only induced a heart attack so her brain _should_ be fine. Chiyo had been off her rocker for a while now.

"You won't be getting a proper burial," Sakura said to the corpse before sealing the body away into the scroll. She rolled it up before bringing it closer to her face."

"I would be lying if I said that made me feel bad.'

* * *

"—doriya? Izuku?! You're spacing out on me."

Izuku's hand knocked over his milkshake as he came to. Thankfully, Sumire caught it before any large mess could be made. Izuku's breaths were coming in short and fast and his head throbbed in time with his rising heartbeat.

"Are you feeling okay?" Sumire asked with a frown on her face, "Do you need to get to a doctor or some sort of medication? Just water?"

He had to pull himself together. He could deal with whatever awful thing he had just seen later. Izuku took his milkshake back from Sumire and drank up the majority of what was left. The brain freeze was immediate and terrible and painful, but it also gave him the shock needed to compartmentalise and focus.

Artefact auctions now and visions of a past murder later.

"What was my last question?" Izuku asked and Sumire looked at him concern in her eye before continuing.

"You asked if the heroes work together and they all do on a rotating basis," Sumire said once she was sure Izuku wouldn't randomly space out again, "This is the first time something has ever been stolen from there and a lot of the sidekicks got hurt. Across all agencies."

"I don't mean to be rude, but I don't see what the big deal is?" Izuku said as he fought to suppress Chiyo's death face, "Muscular is powerful. _Miruko_ had to take down Muscular and even then he got away. She's a top 10 hero! I doubt that there are many sidekicks who could beat him."

Izuku did mean that. Whatever Muscular's Quirk was, it put him above the vast majority of heroes. It probably wouldn't be as effective against someone like Endeavour and Eraserhead could cancel it out, but those two weren't your run of the mill of the heroes. Then again, someone with a blade or sword Quirk could probably beat him too. Unless his muscle fibres were enhanced, but then again everything could be cut if the blade was sharp enough. Were there any—

"You're spacing out again...Anyways, this facility is supposed to be impregnable. It has survived direct nuclear blasts," Sumire didn't even sound bothered by him spacing out, "There is a lot of security measures and they get changed constantly at random. This is where the ultra-rich keep all their valuables and even some money. And by some, I mean a _lot_. The only way someone could possibly get past all of that—"

Izuku's heart sank as the penny finally dropped for him.

"Is if there was someone on the inside," Izuku finished as a sense of foreboding came over him, "And the only people who work as security—"

"Are heroes and the police," Sumire finished before reaching for something in her bag, "One of my sources—"

"You have sources?" The question was out his lips before Izuku could stop it.

"My website has a _lot_ of traffic," Sumire explained as she took out her phone and tapped a few times before turning it to him, "It picked up dramatically after you saved me and just keeps rising. I was also one of the first to break the news on a prominent villain so the ad money is enough for me to retire."

Sumire was talking about the Hero Killer. The man had crippled or killed many heroes across Japan for not being true heroes. His actions were a part of the reason that the section of Sumire's website dedicated to misdeeds done by heroes was very, very popular.

Especially when some of those heroes would end up facing the Hero Killer...

Sumire could stop investigating and sell off her platform. Yet she still chose to find the truth for people. She didn't have a powerful Quirk or powerful backers. Sumire was just resourceful and had a thirst for exposing the truth.

It was inspiring. To think someone like her would want him to help her, struck a chord within him. At the same time, he knew that he was vastly outgunned by the enemies they would face.

Despite Sumire's praise, Izuku knew that he wasn't good enough. He had hesitated against Dabi and had not once even thought about helping the police with Muscular. He was still only 15. He'd learn the stuff needed to deal with this sort of stuff while at UA.

It was already a miracle that he was going to UA. If something went wrong then his dreams could be shattered in an instant. His head was telling him to just tell a hero about all this and get Sumire some actual help while his heart was screaming at him to help her.

As things were, he couldn't decide. Not right now.

"I need to go," Izuku said to Sumire whose face dropped but then she nodded.

She paid for their meal and they left the diner behind. Sumire paid the man under the tree who Izuku now knew was a car guard of sorts. They rode in silence as Sumire brought him near his apartment. She didn't even try to sway or convince to her side. She just let him be. It was a tense and awkward ride and relief filled him once they turned into his street.

She parked across the street from his apartment. before switching her car off. She turned towards him and the disappointment and yet understanding in her eyes made his heart twinge. Why wasn't she more hostile? Her understanding of his hesitancy only made him feel worse for not agreeing to help her.

"If I had known you were a kid, I probably wouldn't have reached out to you," Sumire said before she began to dig through her bag, "I think I do admire you more knowing that you're still just a kid. I know the type of person you are, Izuku. You _want_ to help people no matter what. Did you have an idol growing up?"

Izuku nodded, "I did. It was, _is_ , All Might."

"Of course it is. He's everyone's hero," Sumire smiled a bit sadly at him, "I'm not just saying this to sway to my side, but I do see some of him in Kage and in you. That drive to help people no matter what is an admirable trait. That's why I'm giving your this."

Sumire handed Izuku a note that had an address scribbled on it. He recognised it as the abandoned mall area he had trained that. It was funny and ironic how he seemed to be retracing his steps before going to UA.

First Takoba Beach and now the abandoned mall. What was next? A fight with Kamui Woods by Kendou's gym?

"I got a tip-off that Konoha artefacts are gonna be handed over somewhere inside the mall," Sumire said as she put her bag away, "Whoever is in charge of this thing went around asking a lot of people to act as security. Just ordinary thugs, that's how I found about this."

"You want me to go there and stop it?" Izuku questioned Sumire as he squinted at her, "I think you overestimated my abilities."

"No, it's nothing like that."

Izuku sighed in relief.

" _I_ am going to film the exchange," Sumire said pulverised the momentary relief he had felt, "If I can get a video and some photos of what they took exactly then I can begin to convince people that something is afoot. People with power."

"You could die," Izuku pointed out to her.

"I know," Sumire agreed, "Dabi and Muscular will probably be there. However, I can't just let this die away. There _is_ just something more to Konoha beyond being an extinct civilisation. The public deserves to know what is actually going on there."

"I don't expect you to come, but—"

"I'll be there," Izuku interjected much to Sumire and his own surprise, "If there is something about those Konoha artefacts, I need to help you figure it out."

"What?" Sumire sputtered out, "Are you sure? Like _really_ sure? You've got a bright future ahead of you with your Quirk _and_ being in UA. Is this what you really want?"

"It is," Izuku confirmed with as much certainty as he could muster.

A dark voice had been whispering in the back of his head the more he had heard Sumire speak about Konoha. Even if the evidence was weak or circumstantial or inconclusive, Izuku knew he had to find out more.

After all, it was his fault that Konoha had been discovered in the first place. Sumire seemed convinced that the artefacts were the key to all of this. He had to find out for himself if that were the case. If he had never found Konoha then the spree of destruction Dabi and Muscular ( and who knows who else) would have never happened.

"Send me the pickup point and I'll be there," Izuku said and he sensed that Sumire was unsure so he smiled as wide as he could.

"I'll be there and I'll keep you safe, Sumire," Izuku's gave a thumbs up for good effect, "I never go back on my word. Believe it!"

* * *

**Author Notes:**

**That is that. I know some people wanted to get to UA, but there still needs to be some setup involved.**

**Thanks for all the comments and reviews I've gotten. As well as the people subscribing and giving kudos. The numbers geek in me is very pleased.**

**QoTC/OC competition: Hero name? Deku? Dekiru? The Legendary Sucker? This is an actual OC competition. If someone comes up with something better than what I want to do then your hero name will be in here. I am also still accepting ideas for Izuku's hero costume just in case you missed the boat first time around.**

* * *

**Discord server:** **discord. gg/ Ty68TdCDu6 (remove spaces)**

**Also, those of you on FFN won't know, but on AO3 I embedded some great fanart I got from two guys on the Discord server. One is a Drawing of the Chakra Fruit by an anonymous artist and the other is one of Izuku as Kage by Rustystar6 on Twitter. Rusty has some _great_ art if you're interested in a commissioning something. He's really talented.**


	11. "I can't wait to suck you dry!"

**I'm loving the response guys. I hope this story can one day reach 1K faves and follows on FFN. Always wanted a fic to hit that number lol.**

* * *

A shirt with blue, red and yellow to show the world he loved All Might? Check.

A nice pair of jeans his mother bought him for this sort of situation? Check.

A rather expensive jacket his mother bought him for this sort of situation? Check.

UA package? Check.

Izuku now had everything he would need for the dinner he was having with Kendou's family. It was meant to be a casual thing, but knowing his mother she would want photo after photo after photo so it was best he at least looked good in them.

There were enough embarrassing photos of him as it was. He had no idea where his mother kept them, but he had a feeling he would never find them until she decided to humiliate him in front of some friends...

She wouldn't do that to him, right? Not _tonight_ at least, but it was almost a lock that she'd show Kendou photos of when Izuku was young and dumb. The dread that image conjured was enough to make his skin crawl.

He could not let that happen under any circumstances.

"Izuku," his mother said as she stepped into his room, "Itsuka's father said he just arrived downstairs. Itsuka and her mother are already at the restaurant and got us our table. We need to leave."

His mother was dressed up too. Nothing crazy, but definitely not the stuff she would wear while at home. She also held a handbag and despite himself, Izuku wondered what was in the bag. He wouldn't put it past his mom to put his baby pictures in there.

He had to keep an eye on her.

"Alright, let's go!" Izuku said as he scooped up the package from UA, "Uh, mom. Have you seen my escrima sticks anywhere? The school said they would mail it with my letter."

"Do you mean the metal sticks that have this tape that looks like what _used_ to be on my tennis racquet on it?" she asked him with a wide smile, "They're on the table. We'll have a talk about them _later_."

"S-Sounds great," Izuku said with a shaky smile, "Well w-we shouldn't let Kendou's father wait! You should head down to greet him! He could have parked on the wrong side or something plus it would be rude! I just need to use the bathroom quickly."

"We'll talk about this later," his mother promised with a half-serious glare that softened immediately, "I'll be down in the car. It's a black sedan. Don't forget to lock up!"

"I won't," Izuku promised and his mother smiled before leaving.

He waited for the door to close shut before moving into action. He got his school bag out and opened it up. He had emptied it earlier after devouring the doughnuts Sumire had gotten him.

The stuff he would be putting inside the bag wasn't nearly as fun.

He skipped into the living room to get his chakra rods and put those in as well. After some hesitation, he put in two kunai as well. He has no intention of using them on somebody, but they could come in handy.

Plus, the whole villains meeting was about Konoha artefacts. It would only make sense that he showed Sumire some of what he had gotten from Konoha. They could compare it with the rest of what had been taken from Konoha.

The meeting loomed over Izuku like a spectre. If he were on his own than he would not be so worried. However, with Sumire there, he would have to be extra cautious about everything. The last thing he wanted was for her to get hurt especially under his watch.

In all honesty, other than Dabi or Muscular showing up, Izuku did not have too many worries about the strength of everyone else. They had been recruiting everyday thugs to act as sentry guards after all and Kage had beaten plenty of everyday thugs over the past few months.

Izuku finished by putting his mask in the bag and he left it by his window. He would have to sneak out to get to Sumire tonight and if his mother heard him leave then it would be game over.

Izuku put on some cologne before taking his phone and the package. He turned off all the lights and locked up before running for the stairs. He reached the ground floor a few seconds later and he looked around before spotting his mother talking to a somewhat familiar man with brown hair.

That was definitely Kendou's father. Izuku still remembered the video of Kendou flooring her father with an uppercut. He could appreciate what that meant now looking at Kendou's father. He was in very good shape, better than some Pro Heroes in all honesty.

What was his Quirk? Was it like Kendou's or something different? He must know quite a few fighting styles too since he taught Kendou. Perhaps he had taught a few Pros as well? Maybe—

"Focus," Izuku chastised himself as he refocused on the task at hand, "Those are questions for later."

Thankfully, neither his mother nor Kendou's father had noticed him just yet. He crossed the street and heard the last bits of an upbeat conversation before they stopped talking as they noticed him. His mother took the UA package from him as she moved to introduce him.

"Umai, this is my son Izuku," his mother said with a bright smile. Her natural cheery demeanour was something Izuku wished he had inherited from her. Umai turned towards him and a mass of anxiety just dropped on him.

"Uh, it is very nice to meet you, Kendou-san," Izuku punctuated the awkward greeting with a bow, "You have a very beautiful car."

Umai looked at him with a blank expression before a broad smile spread across his face, "I thought I recognised you! You're the kid who's been outperforming all of my customers in the gym! You're a legend at my gym, you know that?"

He was?

"I-I am?" Izuku asked and Umai nodded vigorously.

"Absolutely!" Umai said with a bright smile and booming voice, "Everyone kept telling me about this kid with a crazy schedule, but I was usually up in the dojo or at our other business. Did no one ever ask you about your schedule? People thought you were gonna tear something!"

Umai's positivity was like a balm for Izuku's nerves. It was impossible to be nervous around someone so upbeat. Instead, he just felt extremely embarrassed that Umai was showering him with praise. His schedule wasn't that bad, was it?

"I just used a programme that Olympic athletes followed back in the days," Izuku said rubbing the back of his neck, "It's not a big deal, really...I'm sure most people could handle it."

"If you say so," Umai said but it was clear from his tone that he didn't believe, "Well, now that we're all here, we can head out! You guys have got everything you need."

They did have everything they needed and soon they were off. Umai and his mother were engaged in a casual conversation and so Izuku allowed his mind to wander. Today had been such a crazy day between meeting Sumire, the random encounter with Bakugou and there was still more that laid ahead.

There was also the haunting vision he had gotten of Sakura and that old lady— Chiyo. A vision he had gotten while _awake_. It was one of Chiyo betraying Sakura for reasons that were not entirely clear. At least to him. There was a lot of stuff said that Izuku just did not fully understand.

The worst part of the vision, though, had been Chiyo's death. Sakura had just killed her. _He_ had killed Chiyo. He had felt the rage and surprise and betrayal that spurred Sakura into killing Chiyo. He was now aware that he was seeing visions of someone's life, but it still felt like more than that.

He had heard Sakura's thoughts, he had known the very moment Sakura had decided to kill Chiyo and how she planned to do that too. It was...haunting. He had known that Konoha citizens were fighters and that obviously implied a certain level of violence, but it was another thing entirely to watch someone die.

The ban on killing had been implemented quite a bit before Izuku had been alive. There had been a time where heroes were allowed to kill, but some protests from citizens had made the government push back on the powers afforded to heroes.

Killings did happen, but they were extremely rare and fully investigated. Heroes were meant to capture their targets no matter how evil they may be. They were then thrown inside prisons— the worst of which was Tartarus. For obvious reasons, no one knew the way Tartarus operated, but apparently, death was preferable to going there.

Only the worst of the worst ever made it inside Tartarus and no one ever left it.

That was probably why Chiyo's death had stunned him. It was obviously in self-defence, but he had felt Sakura's _nonchalance_ at what she had done. It was understandable, of course. Chiyo was about to kill Sakura, but if a _healer_ had zero issues with killing then what were the actual fighters like?

The contents of Hiruzen's scroll was mostly academic and anecdotal in nature. That part of the man's life was never really expanded on, but perhaps it was just because Hiruzen himself was so used to it. If Konoha was a part of society numb to killing then it all but cemented the fact that their downfall had to be grisly.

Izuku put those thoughts aside as he focused on what probably the only positive from Sakura's vision. The chakra strings Chiyo had used piqued Izuku's interest. It reminded him a lot of what Best Jeanist could do.

In fact, Izuku was certain that him thinking about one of Best Jeanist's past fights had triggered the vision in the first place. It was a bit concerning that random stimuli could trigger memories, but there really was not anything he could do about it right now.

Everything had a weakness, right? This was just one downside that was steeply outweighed by the upsides of chakra. In any case, it was not like he could uneat that fruit or something so he just had to build a bridge and get over it.

Still, though, the vision did leave with a few new goals. First, he wanted to reverse engineer Chiyo's chakra strings. If she could use it to move Sakura around then it could probably be used on other objects as well. It was pure chakra manipulation and not something truly outlandish like elemental ninjutsu or genjutsu so he could _probably_ get away with using it at UA.

Much like how Endeavor had different ways of manipulating his fire. Would that explanation work? He sure hoped so.

It was imperative that he began to differentiate what Kage could do from what "Izuku" had already shown. UA saw him use energy that was a strength and speed enhancer as well as a healing accelerant.

Meanwhile, Kage could swap with objects, make clones, cut through Eraserhead's scarf and of course use the Body Flicker. If he kept the ridiculous stuff for Kage but kept the more "possible" stuff for him then great.

It was the only solution until such a time, Izuku could safely reveal more of what he could do.

There was still a lot to be done with what he could do now though. For example, the way he used Surface Sticking to always be on balance when sparring against Kendou was a good example of a hidden skill that would help him.

His elemental manipulation was coming along nicely, but he wasn't comfortable with throwing jutsu around just yet. However, perhaps there were ways he could use them "invisibly".

An idea for one such thing came into his mind almost immediately, but he was forced to shelve it as the car rolled to a stop. Izuku unlocked his phone to check the time and he saw he had a message from someone. Sumire.

**[Sumire: Meeting is confirmed for 11 PM tonight at Agatarri Mall. We need to be there before they're there. I'll be parked outside your flat around 10:00. Be ready.]**

That confirmed that. Izuku messaged Sumire a confirmation before putting his phone away. It was around half past six now. He had enough time to have fun before getting down to business. He banished all thoughts of the meeting though for now. He picked up the UA package and smiled as he read his name written across the front.

He had a Kendou to shellshock.

* * *

The restaurant Kendou's family had picked out was rather nice. It was a steak ranch that seemed geared to families especially. There was a children's playground in the far corner with trampolines and a large ball pit.

Opposite the entrance to the restaurant proper, was a sprawling arcade that grabbed Izuku's attention with all the lights and noises coming from it. He followed his mom and Kendou's father as they walked around the restaurant before they finally reached a table with five seats.

Kendou was in a seat facing away from them, so a woman, who was obviously her mother, was the first to spot and greet them. It was her who Kendou got her orange hair from, but her eyes were blue, unlike Umai and Kendou's green.

She tapped Kendou on the shoulder before greeting his mother. After some pleasantries were exchanged, Izuku had a somewhat awkward greeting with Kendou's mother who was called Kishu. At the same time, Kendou introduced herself to his mom and they then greeted each other. Soon they were all seated around the table.

Kendou was to Izuku's left and his mother to his right with Kendou's parents taking the last remaining seats. They were seen to by a waiter and after their drinks and food were ordered, some actual conversation began. Kishu was the one who got the ball rolling.

"It really is nice to meet you, Izuku," Kishu smiled at him causing a bit of a flutter in his stomach, "Itsuka has spoken quite a bit about you. We usually never get to hear about her friends and now she goes on and on—"

" _Mom_ ," Kendou whined her face buried in her hands, "You said you'd be normal..."

"Did I say something wrong?" Kishu's tone was thick with fake innocence, "I just thought it would be nice to let your friend know how much you think of him! There's nothing wrong that is there, Umai?"

"I am not here," Umai evaded as he kept his gaze pinned on a mounted TV, "I know better than to get in between you and Itsuka. Remember the pig costume?"

As if through magic, Kendou seemed to bury her face deeper into her hands. She let out a groan of embarrassment that made Izuku smile. Izuku could not relish Kendou's embarrassment as his mother seemed keen to outdo Kishu.

"The same goes for Izuku. He's talked my ear off about how lovely your daughter is," his mother said and Izuku's ears were lit aflame, "You should have seen how nervous he was before calling her! It was so _cute_!"

His mother and Kendou's mother got immersed in a conversation about their children as if they weren't right there. They began to trade stories and with that Izuku knew he just had to shut his brain off. He'd combust if his mother mentioned anything about the outfits he'd worn.

Thankfully ignoring that was made easier by Umai speaking to him, "So, Izuku? How do you think your exam went? Itsuka did very well for herself and I'm sure you must have as well judging by how she looks after your spars..."

"I _did_ have to go the dentist by the way," Kendou said as she turned towards him, "You knocked a few of my teeth loose."

"And that would have never happened if you just guarded your face," Umai added smoothly causing Kendou to roll her eyes, "Kendou is a talented martial artist, but sometimes she can get a bit..."

"Reckless?" Izuku offered and Umai nodded his head.

"I mean that's not exactly how _I'd_ put it, but—" Umai began before flinching and putting a hand under the table, "Ow! Where was I? Right. The UA exams?"

Izuku glanced at Kendou who now had a rather broad smile on her face. It was a sharp contrast to the pain-stricken one on her father's. Their mothers were now enveloped in a conversation about something Izuku couldn't quite catch, but judging by their smiles it must have been something good.

A warm feeling bloomed in his chest as he spoke, "I think we both did well enough to get in. I owe a lot of that to you and your daughter, Kendou-san. If I hadn't found your gym or trained with Kendou then I'd have had a lot harder time getting in."

It really was true. Izuku was just a culmination of different people's effort. Himself, his mother, Kendou, Umai, Sumire the countless heroes he saw every day and even Bakugou. They had all had a hand in moulding him as he continued to grow and develop.

He could probably add Sakura to that list now.

"So how was training with Kendou?" Kishu asked as she and his mom caught wind of their conversation, "Have you had any major injuries from Itsuka? The others in the gym seemed to always end up banged after facing her just once and you trained with her for _months_."

He was once again the centre of attention for everyone at the table.

"Well, I think we both gave as good as we got," Izuku began still a bit unnerved by Kishu who looked just like an older Kendou now that he thought about it, "She didn't just beat me up, though. She really is a very good teacher."

"That is some high praise," Kishu said smiling at him, "If you're even half as good a student as Itsuka says you are, I wouldn't be surprised if you topped the charts."

"He is that good of a student, " Kendou said with certainty, "I worked him to the bone! I taught him everything I knew. Some of the stuff I had to look up. Strikes, grapples, submissions. He's a quick study. It really impressed me!"

The waiter arrived at the table and began laying out drinks. Izuku took his drink as Kendou continued to speak about their training. Umai had lost interest in the TV and was now also paying Kendou his full attention.

"That does sound like Izuku," his mother said as she and the others sipped from their drinks, "He isn't one to do things halfway."

"Definitely not," Kendou said after taking a sip of her soda, "It was difficult for me too after a while. There were days where he pounded me so hard, I'd feel sore for days after."

Oddly, the three adults choked or made other noises startling Izuku. The waiter, who had not yet left, stared between Kendou and Izuku quizzically before he gave Izuku a thumbs up.

What was that about?

"Excuse me, I think that went down the wrong pipe," his mother said her face red from choking on her drink Izuku assumed, "Y-You were s-saying?"

Kishu and Umai were in a similar state to his mother. Perhaps the alcohol they had ordered was off? Izuku had only ever had one sip courtesy of Aunt Mitsuki and it had been _awful_. Bakugou had, a little unsurprisingly, enjoyed the burning liquid.

"Oh right," Kendou didn't seem to notice anything was amiss, "He just worked me over really _hard_. He made me feel things in places I didn't know existed...He bent my body in ways I didn't know it could. It was _amazing_."

Umai cleared his throat.

"Izuku really has got a gift for martial arts. Striking, grappling, submissions and everything in-between," Kendou finished and Izuku swore he saw the adults relax into their seats, "He's a lot more of a challenge of those meatheads at the gym and that includes you, Dad."

"Normally, I'd be hurt by that, but honestly I'm just relieved right now," Umai said as he wiped some sweat off his brow, "Oh, look here comes the food. Why don't you kids go to the arcade after eating and then we can open those packages up before some dessert? What do you say?"

Izuku met Kendou's gaze and they nodded at once.

"Cool."

"That sounds great!"

The food arrived not long after that and at Kendou's behest, Izuku ate as quickly as he could. He was already starving so her urging had been unnecessary. They both already had money so they bade their parents a temporary farewell before making their way to the arcade.

"So, you've met my parents..." Kendou said without looking at him, "Sorry, if they were weird back there. I told them to cool it, but—"

"I think they're awesome," Izuku cut Kendou off as they joined the line to buy some tokens, "I mean, yeah, they like teasing you, but that's what parents do, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Kendou said rubbing the back of her neck, "At least they seem to like you. My mother especially."

"O-Oh, really?" Izuku's voice was _very_ high-pitched, "I didn't see things like t-that. Your parents are just really sweet. What does your mother do?"

"I think it's better if I showed you," Kendou said piquing his interest.

There had been some talk of there being another business, but what that business was exactly was still unclear. They were now at the front of the line and after buying a copious amount of tokens for the both of them, they were off.

Kendou seemed to know her way through the arcade rather well and eventually, they came to a stop at an empty game. It was a two-player game and Kendou, being Kendou, popped in tokens on both sides.

"What's with the face," Kendou asked as she climbed onto something that only partially resembled a motorcycle, "You aren't scared, are you?"

"Me? Scared?" Izuku tried and failed to say with nonchalance, "I'm just cautious. There are crash pads all around us. These things seem a lot more hardcore than the other stuff in here too! I just don't want to get an injury is all."

Plus, the game was called Death Race 3000. He knew an omen when he saw one.

"I've punched you with a giant fist and you were fine afterwards."

"I was bleeding from my mouth and lost a tooth."

"That's why I said _fine_ and not unharmed," Kendou quipped as she revved her motorcycle, "Tell you what, let's make a bet."

As soon as Kendou said the magic words, Izuku was interested. Maybe it was her competitive spirit firing his own up or something, but Izuku had begun to get a bit of taste for betting. Friendly bets only. Nothing too risky.

"I'm listening."

"We play as many arcade games as possible until we have an overall winner," Kendou began before dropping the hammer, "Loser has to open their UA letter first."

Izuku climbed onto the motorcycle, "Let's do this thing. How hard could it be?"

The game booted up with loud rock music. The motorcycle vibrated underneath Izuku as he moved around to find a comfortable riding position. The first warning sign was seeing how Kendou seemed all too comfortable on the futuristic motorcycle.

The second warning sign was how quickly Kendou selected a level. The third warning sign was one of the arcade workers popping down on a nearby chair with a briefcase in his hand. It had a large cross on the front synonymous with hospitals.

"W-What's that for?" Izuku asked the worker who seemed exhausted but was still happy to answer.

"First aid kit," he answered as he slapped the briefcase, "We usually need them after people get on this ride. Government regulations or something...you should be okay, though...Probably. "

The final warning sign was the dazzling and wild smile on Kendou's face as the game booted up.

"...I've made a terrible mistake..."

* * *

A river of sweat was going down the back of his neck. Izuku's arms and legs burnt with exertion and anticipation. Izuku slowed his breathing as he tried to sound out his target. He strained and struggles until he heard it. Running. He peeked around a corner and was forced to move back as his target began to turn towards him.

He crept the other way around the wall and to his fortune, his target's back was turned towards. Izuku lifted his weapon and dashed forward. His target turned towards him with a weapon of their own and they both fired at the same time.

*PING*

*PING*

"A double knockout?" Izuku said as he lowered his laser gun, "That means—"

Izuku looked at the number on his chest: 29. He looked at his opponent and he sighed as he read the number 30 on her chest. Why had he chosen this event as the decider?

"I win!" shouted Kendou as the lights came on in the laser tag arena, "You can't hide your stupid score from me now!"

"That's fifteen wins for the wonderful and lovely Itsuka Kendou," she struck a pose in front of him, "Tell me, Izuku. How does it feel to be completely and utterly destroyed by me?"

"I beat you _fourteen_ times."

That reminder, obviously, didn't work.

"And you still lost," Kendou said airily, "You put up a decent fight, junior, but there was nothing you could do. I am inevitable."

Izuku was about to reply when an arcade worker called out to them.

"Hey buddy!" he said with a few kids in tow, "Could you and your girlfriend vacate the arena? All of the kids you two eliminated paid for a second go. Without you."

Kendou still high on her victory turned towards him, "Well, maybe if those kids weren't so _crappy_ then—"

"We'll get out of your hair, thanks!" Izuku drowned out the rest of Kendou's retort as he ushered her out, "We really need to head back. I'm sure our parents are going crazy looking at those letters.

"Alright, alright," Kendou said dropping the issue, "I kinda got a bit too invested in that, didn't I?"

"Maybe a little," Izuku said as they took off the laser tag equipment before he turned to Kendou with a straight face, "I mean those kids _were_ crappy."

Kendou stared at him blankly before they both erupted into peals of laughter. It really wasn't that funny of a joke, but whenever one of them stopped the other would make eye-contact and set them both off into laughter again.

By the time, they made it back to the table inside the steak ranch, Izuku's face and chest hurt from smiling and laughing ad nauseam.

Kishi seemed to notice their good mood immediately, "I was convinced you guys had eloped. What's got you two so riled up?"

"I-it's nothing, m-mom," Kendou said a giggle or two escaping her lips.

Izuku didn't trust himself to speak so he just remained quiet. It was a task made harder when he made eye contact with anyone and especially Kendou, but finally, they were able to get themselves under control.

"Alright, I'm just gonna be blunt," Umai said as he rubbed his hands together, "I've been waiting for this so a speech and then onto the main event? You guys have your cameras ready?"

This last part said to Kishu and Izuku's mother who both had video cameras out. Izuku and Kendou didn't even have time to object before Umai began speaking.

"Itsuka," Umai began and the warmth in his tone made Kendou glow a bright red, "You are our pride and joy. All the achievements and accolades I've achieved in my life mean nothing when I look at the young woman you've become. You keep blowing away and all expectations we have of you. We _know_ that you'll grow up to be a phenomenal hero."

Kishu didn't say anything, but she and Umai reached across the table to grab onto Kendou's hand. Speaking of which, Kendou had a smile on her face as well as tears as she at her parents. She didn't say anything for a bit and when she did speak her voice was warbled and choked with emotion.

"T-Thank you, mom and dad," Kendou smiles through her tears, "I owe who I am to you both and I'll do my best to make you proud of me."

"We always have been proud of you, Itsuka," Kishu said as she steadied the camera, "Nothing could ever change that."

Izuku's mother handed Kendou a handkerchief from her purse which she used to good effect. Izuku was also feeling pretty choked up and happy for Kendou and he had the beginnings of tears forming in his eyes. It only got worse when his mother spoke to him as she handed the camera to Umai.

"Izuku, I'm not sure I could fit everything I want to say in this speech or we'd be here all night," his mother began with some tears in her eyes, "What I will say is that you've made me prouder and happier than I thought possible. You are such a sweet, selfless and helpful boy. I remember when you were four years old and you used to ask me to replay All Might's debut for you...over and over again..."

A wet laugh escaped Izuku as tears leaked from his eyes. His mother was in much the same state and he was sure they were quite the sight, but he couldn't find it within himself to care about crying in public.

"I know that you will inspire a lot of other children just like All Might did for you," his mother said wiping her eyes, "I know without a shadow of a doubt that you'll become the greatest hero the world has ever known."

Izuku rose out of his seat and wrapped his mother in a tight hug. The sincerity and emotion in her speech spurring him into action. He only pulled away from the hug as he realises they had company. He needn't have worried though as he saw all three of the Kendou beaming at them.

Kishu gave him a handkerchief that he used to mop up his tears before finally the moment of truth came. A glance around the restaurant told him quite a few people were interested in what was going on at their table, but he couldn't care less.

Izuku got his package out first. A quick word from Kendou about his lost bet was all that was needed and soon Izuku carefully opened the package. The first thing he pulled out was a disk of some sort that he realised was a hologram projector.

He placed it on the surface of the table and not long after that did the hologram switch on. A majestic tune began to play throughout the restaurant that now had its lights dimmed and was now a fair bit quieter.

A booming laugh erupted from the hologram. Izuku's jaw dropped as he recognised the powerful voice for who it was immediately.

"A-All Might?"

Immediately after saying that, the man himself popped into view on the camera. His video was garnering major attention now that All Might had appeared on-screen. Everyone around the table was paying rapt attention except for Kendou who looked at him with an expression of overjoyed shock.

"I am here! ...in holographic form!" the hologram's speakers only slightly distorted his voice, "You must be wondering what I'm doing in this— your letter from UA! The reason is simple. I am going to be joining the UA staff as a teacher for the Hero Course!"

Kendou's hand had been tapping his leg faster and faster, but after that last sentence, she just grabbed onto like it was a stress ball. Izuku was no daring much better. His mouth hung open as he focused on each and every word All Might said.

"Izuku Midoriya!"

"He's talking to me," Izuku breathed out as the video kept playing.

"You were one of the many who took the Hero Course entrance exam," All Might said a bit more subdued, "You passed the theory exam and you managed to accumulate...117 points!"

"What?!" Kendou whirled around to face him her face the picture of shock, "117! You blew me out the water!"

There was now a bit of crowd around the table as the patrons realised they were getting an inside scoop on not just the number one hero but also the number one hero school in Japan. Izuku didn't have time to respond to Kendou as the video rolled on.

It showed highlights of him destroying bot after bot until the zero-pointer emerged from the ground. All Might's voice then continued to speak as video of him organising the evacuation plan played.

"That would be enough to ensure your entry into UA, but went beyond dealing with the second stage!" All Might said with a painfully wide smile, "You spearheaded and organised a very efficient retreat with your comrades and this has to be rewarded!"

"A special panel of seven judges gave you a score out of 10 for your contributions to this portion of the exam! These 'rescue points' are added to your overall score!"

A video of Uraraka floating students as they lined up.

"Ochaco Uraraka! 65 rescue points!"

Another video of Aoyama flying through the air his navel laser firing at full blast. His face turned to the camera and winked nonchalantly as if he weren't flying through the air.

"Yuga Aoyama! 50 rescue points!"

A video of Iida.

"Tenya Iida! 53 rescue points!"

Yaoyorozu was next. Her video showed her creating the anti-puking pills for Uraraka as well as the ropes and harnesses they used

"Momo Yaoyorozu! 60 rescue points!"

Instead of going into his next, though. A list began to form starting at number 10 and climbing up. It also showed, once again, a personal highlight reel for who Izuku could only assume was the mentioned name.

He began to read the names as he watched them come up.

**10\. Fumikage Tokoyami 108 [82+26]**

**9\. Yui Kodai 115 [68+47]**

A boy who controlled some sort of sentient shadow to great effect, as well as a girl who could shrink things, was next. Both Quirks were very interesting and despite the occasion, Izuku itched to write down everything he could see.

He knew the next two.

**8\. Ochaco Uraraka 115 [50+65]**

**7\. Itsuka Kendou 117 [77+40]**

The unexpected spoiler made their table erupt into cheers. Kendou's parents all but sprinted around the table and wrapped her up in a tight hug. Izuku himself was then swept into a hug by Kendou which he returned after a moment's pause.

"We got in!" Kendou chorused as she spun him around, "We're going to UA. We're going to be taught by All Might! This is crazy!"

By the time, the table had settled down somewhat, they caught the last of Yaoyorozu using her improvised gun to fire bullets, chains and whatever else she could create. It seemed to be a souped-up version of a blunderbuss that worked to great effect as it helped Momo nail the third spot.

Finally, it was Izuku's turn, his personal highlights were shown again, but this time they showed his rescue efforts. His mother gave him a rather proud smile when he went back to rescue Yaoyorozu, but that dropped as the table, and by proxy some of the restaurant's nosier patrons, watched him take down the robot.

The only silver lining was that they had skipped past his spontaneous healing.

"As you just saw, the competition was steep and your performance still stood tall," All Might's voice returned out of nowhere, "In fact, after all, you did in that part of the exam, the judges couldn't give you anything less than you deserved."

"Izuku Midoriya. 70 rescue points."

**2\. Izuku Midoriya 187 [117+70]**

**1\. Katsuku Bakugou 188 [119+69]**

The praise from All Might made Izuku feel as light as a balloon. Even the quick highlight video of Bakugou destroying a zero-pointer washed off of him like water off a duck's back. When in great company like his mom, Kendou and her family, he couldn't quite find it within himself to care all too much that he had lost to Bakugou.

All Might's parting words still rang in Izuku's mind

"Izuku Midoriya..."

"This is your Hero Academia!"

* * *

The rest of the night was a blur. They watched Kendou's own video which was similar to Izuku's but focused on what Kendou had done right. She had literally carried people across the line and in other cases rescued them from sticky situations by beating down robots.

From there, dessert was had and many, many pictures were taken. Eventually, they had to leave and Umai dropped Izuku and his mother off at home. Kendou was there this time and Izuku was able to speak to her while their parents were occupied.

"So I checked the rest of the package in the car," Kendou began before gesturing to the paper in her hand, "I'm in class 1-B."

"I'm in 1-A," Izuku replied disappointed, "I was really hoping we'd be in the same class."

It was also unlikely that they would ever share a class since most schools kept the same class throughout. He hoped that some of the examinees from his exam were with him. Well, most of them. He did not need even more opportunities to make things between him and Yaoyorozu even more awkward.

"Same here," Kendou said folding the paper a bit too harshly, "This blows, but at least we can see each other at lunch and after school. Plus, I'm pretty sure our dorms will be right by each other so it'll be easier than ever to train together."

Maybe it wasn't all bad.

"That sounds great," Izuku said with a small but very genuine smile.

Izuku's phone beeped. He read the message and frowned. It was from Sumire just re-confirming everything that was going to go down. Kendou must have sensed something was wrong as she moved towards him. He put his phone away immediately which caused her to freeze in her tracks.

"Are you okay, Izuku?" Kendou asked her smile nowhere to be seen, "What was that message about?"

He definitely couldn't tell her that.

"Nothing important," Izuku said a bit too quickly, "Not right now at least."

"Alright," Kendou said after a scary moment of silence, "You know I've got your back, right?"

"I do," Izuku agreed immediately, "And I have yours."

Which was why he couldn't implicate her in this.

"As long as we're clear," Kendou said and Kishu called out to Kendou ("I'm gonna miss the race!") obviously wanting to head out now, "I need to leave before my mother bursts a vein. We need to go shopping for our UA stuff together. It'll be fun!"

"Okay!" Izuku agreed hastily.

He expected Kendou to go inside the car, but instead, she pulled him into a hug just like at the restaurant. His face burnt from the close contact, but he was able to reciprocate the hug before things got awkward.

Well, awkward for the both of them.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," Kendou's voice was calmer and more tranquil than usual. The softness of her voice made the hair on his neck stand up and his heart thrummed away in his chest.

"I did too," Izuku replied and a few seconds later they were standing apart once again.

"I'll text you tomorrow," Kendou said as she turned to go inside the car, "We need to go shopping for UA supplies still."

"I'll be there."

Izuku bade farewell to Umai and Kishu and soon only he and his mother were left in the street. It was with a bit of a heavy heart that Izuku began the arduous journey up the stairs. His mother was rather tired and so once they got in the apartment she went to bed very quickly.

Izuku kept looking out his window for hours until he saw a blue sedan park across the street. He locked his door, something he never did, and used Surface Sticking to sneak out the window and slide down. Thankfully, at this time the streets were empty and no one saw his rather suspicious actions.

He sidled into the passenger side seat of Sumire's car and he blinked as she stared at him with wide eyes. Her unblinking black eyes tore a hole straight through him and put him on edge.

"Uh, hello?" Izuku tried but Sumire was still staring at him weirdly, "Are you okay?"

"What _is_ your Quirk?" Sumire asked reaching into her bag and putting on her storage crystal, "You're like a box of chocolates. I have no idea what I'm going to get."

He was a box of what? Was that something people said? He'd never heard that before.

"My grandma used to say it to me, okay?" Sumire grumbled as she started her car up, "I hope you won't be so mumbly while we're on the job. That would be embarrassing. And probably cost us our lives too."

Sumire pulled away from Izuku's street as they headed off. Musutafu, being as big as it was, still had an active nightlife, but there wasn't much of a delay compared to how it would've been during the day.

"How are you feeling?" Sumire asked breaking the silence, "Nervous?"

"A little bit," Izuku admitted as he stared out the window, "This can go wrong in so many ways, but I can't think like that. I just want to see this through to the end...what about you?"

"I'm petrified," Sumire said as they left the bright nightlife behind for a residential area, "Those guys are the real deal and you can obviously take care of yourself. I'm just a journalist with fancy eyes."

"I think you're selling yourself a little short," Izuku said as they pulled into an apartment building's parking lot, "You're being very brave by going ahead with this. Not many people would."

"Thanks, I needed that," Sumire said softly as she parked her car, "Okay, let's do this."

Izuku followed Sumire up to her apartment which was near the very top. They made sure to be seen by as many cameras as possible and even greeted the half-asleep clerk at the front desk. Once, they were inside the apartment, though, the airs and graces were dropped.

"Your place is a bit farther than I expected from the mall, but you should be fine," Izuku said after Sumire had changed into darker clothes, "Did you get those pills I told you?"

"Yup," Sumire said as she held up a small pillbox, "A full dosage of over-the-counter antiemetic pills. Side effects include...you know what? I'm just not gonna read that right now. That is horrifying."

"Yeah, we don't have much of a choice," Izuku said as they took one pill each, "My Body Flicker is really disorienting and we'll be using it a lot. Did you get a neck brace and helmet too?"

Sumire held the aforementioned items up, "These are only precautions, right? In case you slip or something. You never have fallen while doing this before, right?"

At that moment, Sumire's wall clock became very interesting.

"I better take a gum guard too if that's your reaction," Sumire said as she went into another room, "You're lucky I have one. Or else we'd just have to charter a ride there."

Sumire returned with her neck brace and helmet on. It would have been a comical sight if it weren't for the situation at hand. Izuku took his mask and rods out of his bag before handing it to Sumire.

He put the mask on and with a few handseals, he Transformed into Kage. The smoke cleared quickly and Sumire lifted her visor to show her amazed and befuddled expression as she now looked _up_ at him.

"You made yourself taller?" Sumire asked with a sort of impressed amusement, "Really?"

"All it means is that people will be looking for someone who's half a foot taller than I am," Kage's familiar distorted voice answered for him, "It's smart."

"That voice distortion thing," Sumire said with interest, "How do you do that? Hell, how does that mask stick to you? I don't see any strings..."

"I'll explain that all later," Izuku said as he looked at the clock, "The meeting is in less than thirty minutes. We have to go."

"I'll hold you to that," Sumire said as she dropped her visor, "How are we gonna do this? Fireman carry? On your back? Bridal? That would be rather _bold_ of someone so young."

"On my back," Izuku said ignoring Sumire's teasing, "Unless you want to risk falling while I'm—"

"Back it is."

Sumire turned all the lights off before she clambered onto his back and wrapped her arms and legs around him. He used Surface Sticking to keep her adhered to her back something she noticed almost immediately.

"This feels weird...but pretty stable too," she said her voice muffled by her helmet, "Now I really want to know what's the deal with you."

"Brace yourself," Izuku said as he stepped onto her darkened balcony and began to weave handseals, "The first time is always the worst."

"I've heard that one—"

Sumire's answer was lost to the wind as they took off with a powerful Body Flicker. The first step was pretty much just a super-powered jump and they soared through the night air, cars and streets lights blinking below them. The wind whipped and tore at him as the cold air seeped into his very bones.

All the while, Sumire was screaming her head off right in his ear.

Finally, gravity began to pull them back down to Earth, but Izuku remained calm as he figured out a safe landing route. He directed his fall towards the back of a large residential building. He underpowered the Surface Sticking and slid down the back of an apartment building like it was made of glass.

They touched down into a back alley and Sumire's screaming finally stopped. They were a couple of blocks away from her apartment and Izuku was pretty sure no one had noticed them. Sumire took the brief respite to lift her visor.

"What the fuck was that?" Sumire sounded jittery as if she'd eaten a bag of sugar, "I feel like my stomach went nine rounds with All Might!"

There was not a single part of Izuku that was pleased by Sumire being shellshocked. There was not even a single iota of him that felt any annoyance for the terror she had struck in him with her message.

"All Might is a teacher at UA now," Izuku said as he prepared an even stronger Body Flicker.

Sumire had already put her visor down, but her voice was still very clear to him.

"What did you say? Oh, fu—"

As another powerful Body Flicker launched them through the air, Izuku could not help, but feel just downright _awful_ for the screaming Sumire.

* * *

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Sumire had taken her protective gear off and was sprawled on the floor of the mall's rooftop garden. Her voice was barely above a whisper, but the annoyance in her voice was clear. Izuku, for his part, chose to stare straight ahead at the street leading to the mall.

"Never mind that," Izuku said as he tried to recentre their conversation, "Depending on who shows up, we need to weigh up what we do. The only sure thing is that if both Dabi and Muscular are here, I can't risk going down there."

The problem wasn't Dabi, not really. It was all Muscular. Izuku hadn't had much time to practice Tsunade-shishou's super strength technique so he knew he was outgunned when it came to facing Muscular.

If Muscular were here then this thing was pretty much a bust. Izuku would prefer if neither Dabi nor Muscular were present, but all he could, for now, was wait and see.

He didn't have to wait long.

A banged-up van turned onto the mall's streets. Its headlights were bright and on reflex, both Izuku and Sumire ducked down a bit. A quick glance towards his partner confirmed that she had begun to film. The van, after a bit of weaving, parked a bit to their left and dropped the brightness of its headlamps.

"Look at the number plate," Sumire whispered and he obeyed only to frown when he saw it was blank, "This van is probably going to be torched the second this thing is over."

There was only worse news waiting for them. The passenger side door opened and out came Dabi. His scarred visage easy to make out thanks to the headlights of his van. The sliding door opened and Izuku expected to see the hulking figure of Muscular appear.

Instead, it looked to be three criminal types judging by their tattoos and the very visible weapons at their side. Dabi turned towards the three of them slowly as if unconcerned by taking up their time.

"Two of you stand front and centre. The other should get the cargo ready," Dabi's order bounced off the surrounding walls, "Our clients won't like having to wait."

The three grunts gave an affirmation of some sort as they began to do as Dabi had demanded. One man and one woman took up positions in front of the car brandishing their weapons. The other went into the van before pulling out two crates.

The one was rather large and came up to the courier/grunt's waist. He used a vertical trolley to wheel them out, but he was stopped from going anywhere by Dabi who held out his hand.

"Stay right there," Dabi said lowering his arm, "These guys might just try to pull a fast one on us."

Izuku found Dabi's calmness to be at odds with the situation. They had gone through the effort of storming a private facility, angering multiple prominent hero agencies all for two crates and their clients might just renege on their deal anyways.

"You just keep the engine hot and ready," Dabi said to no one in particular and it took Izuku a moment to realise he was speaking to the driver, "I _am_ in charge. You're only here because Muscular is still licking his wounds after that rabbit beat him up. So just focus on your job and I'll focus on mine...If Giran didn't vouch for you, I would've burnt you to ashes by now."

Giran? That must have been one of Dabi's connections. Perhaps Sumire would be able to find out more about the guy. If Dabi and Muscular trusted or listened to this Giran guy then he'd be a good lead to follow.

Izuku filed that away for later though as a car turned into the street on the opposite end of Dabi and his people. The car was a black sedan which also had no plates. It parked about fifteen metres away from Dabi's van and their headlights merged to illuminate even more of the street.

From what Izuku could see, the front of the car was full, but a person from the back came out. He looked nondescript in every way and his face was covered by a mask leaving only the top part of his face visible. The mask was actually more a scarf and it's blood-red colour shone under the lights of both vehicles.

"If it isn't —"

"Don't say my name!" the masked man said cutting Dabi off, "Let's just get this over with I have things I need to do."

The courier-villain made to wheel the cargo, but he was stopped by a cold look from Dabi. That bitter glare melted away as a smile snaked its way onto Dabi's face.

"Come on, Hosu isn't even that far away," Dabi quipped but when the masked man only crossed his arms he smiled, "Don't be like that. I am a _huge_ fan. Your message is really empowering."

The masked man wasn't having it.

"Show me the cargo," he said rather tersely, "Then you'll get your payment."

"Is impatience...hmmm what's the word...endemic in you people," Dabi drawled and he snorted when the masked man didn't react, "Of course you don't know what that means. Hako! Bring out the big one first!"

Hako rolled out the large crate until it was halfway between Dabi and his client. Dabi walked over to Hako who had pried the crate open with a crowbar that was probably doubling as his weapon. The lid was lifted off and Izuku heard Sumire's breath hitch.

The crate was opened to reveal...kunai... Lots and lots of kunai and shuriken. The black metal shone under the bright lamps and despite himself, Izuku felt some confusion seep into him. _This_ was what Dabi and Muscular were after? Kunai? Izuku had hundreds of these in his room.

"How do I know it's the real deal?" said the man which caused Dabi to let out a loud groan.

Dabi held his hand out and after a moment's pause, Hako gave Dabi his crowbar. Izuku tensed up as he expected a fight to break out, but instead of clubbing the masked man with the crowbar, Dabi dropped it to the ground.

He then took a kunai out of the crate and placed it next to crowbar on the ground. He pointed his hands at the two tools and fired a blast of blue fire. The dark of night graves the flames an ethereal quality as Dabi continued to fire away at the weapons.

After about ten seconds, Dabi stopped firing the blast. He crossed his arms and turned to the masked man who, along with Hako, had taken quite a few steps back. He used his head to point to the tools.

"That good enough for you?"

The part of the road that Dabi had burnt was glowing a bright orange. It looked to be almost entirely liquid and there were still some parts that were bubbling as smoke streamed off of the floor. Was asphalt toxic?

He did not ponder that long ago though as he heard the masked man let out a whistle. Izuku looked back at the molten road and as one would expect the crowbar was melted and misshapen. However, the kunai was glowing a bright orange, but ultimately intact.

"That's not all that stuff can do. Not even close," Dabi said with a devious smirk as if he were the holder of some big secret, "I know you wanted more than just the one crate, but we just _had_ to take some off the top for us. Miraculum is in very high demand after all."

"Wait? Is this all?" the masked man's amazement fell away for indignation, "We told you there were over twenty crates in there and I _know_ you got them all. Why do we only have one?"

The masked man's indignation didn't seem to ruffle Dabi's feathers at all.

"As I said, this stuff is in high demand," Dabi said with a shrug, "Normally, I'd just kill you and your friends so be happy. Plus, I'm not that heartless. We got you guys something just as good. Hako."

Hako seemed to understand what Dabi meant as he retrieved the medium-sized crate. It was opened and this time Izuku realised he had to jump in. Jammed inside the crate was scroll after scroll and that was great enough, but perhaps the most interesting thing inside was an odd black item.

"You see that black thing over there?" Dabi said to his client drawing a nod, "My fire couldn't do anything to it. At all. It's not quite Miraculum, but it is special in its own right. I'm sure you can find a way to use it. Those scrolls would have good resale value too, I'm sure. Everyone wants a piece of the Konoha pie as I'm sure you'll know."

"That's it?! A hunk of metal?" the man said loudly and Izuku felt his heart race as the client's car door opened. He feared things would escalate especially as Dabi made to raise his hand, but surprisingly cooler heads prevailed.

"Stay in there, Taka," the man said and the door was closed a moment later, "Fine, we'll take it. Let me get the money."

Sumire turned towards him her eyes filled with urgency, but Izuku was already preparing to move. The client went to his car and got a briefcase from his partners. Izuku got into position as the handover happened and the client began to wheel away the two crates.

He appeared in the midst of Dabi's crew with a Body Flicker. The two grunts from before were the first to notice him. He activated the Fatebreaker at full power and it was no moment too soon as the male grunt swung at him with a bat.

He slapped it aside with a chakra rod before using both his rods like a scissor to wrench it free from the man's grasp. A rapid kick to the face floored the grunt. The female grunt screamed as she moved behind him and Izuku was forced to substitute with the vertical trolley.

His coils tingled from the sealless Substitution and he lashed out at the stunned client with a swipe of his rod. Unfortunately, he seemed to have superb reactions and all Izuku could manage to hit was the scarf. The man's scarf was wrenched from his face to reveal—

"Native?" Izuku was sure his face matched the horror and surprise on Native's face.

Before either of them could say anything else, there was a bright flash of blue. Izuku grabbed onto the small crate and threw it up and away dropping his rods in the process. He picked them up and _just_ managed to dive out of the way of Dabi's attack. A searing wave of flames swept past Izuku, the heat sapping away at his energy.

He was able to see that Native had also managed to get out of the way. This was only because the brightness of Dabi's attack seemed to have been reduced by his mask so he did not suffer a vision whiteout. Izuku waited for the flames to disperse, but that did not happen. As it turned out, Dabi's attack had been less a blast of fire and more an actual wall of flames.

And it was this wall of flames separated Izuku from getting to a Pro Hero who had dealings with heinous villains like Dabi and Muscular.

Thankfully, he could still peer through it and he watched as someone else(not Native) doused the red hot weapons with water. Izuku didn't recognise the man at first, but he was using some sort of water Quirk to cool the kunai and shuriken.

Native he could see was in the backseat of the car shouting rapid instructions to his partners which reminded him there was still someone else he could ID. The driver was still in their seat. The one who had almost confronted Dabi just a few moments ago.

Ignoring the biting heat, Izuku tried to identify the driver through the flames and to his surprise he recognised him immediately. He wasn't wearing his outfit or anything like that, but with his shocking white hair and muscular physique, it was easy to recognise Death Arms.

"What the hell is this?" Izuku muttered as he tried to rise to his feet.

The penny dropped for Izuku as the man he didn't recognise began to use his Quirk. The kunai were lifted in what looked to be a sphere of water and just like that Izuku knew who it was. The man was never seen outside his outfit but his water shaping Quirk was unique and he tended to work with Death Arms quite a lot as well.

"Hanran!" Native screamed at Backdraft his voice hoarse from the noxious gas, "We've got incoming! Takamaru, get ready!"

Another deluge of flames was launched by Dabi. This was more of an angled strike that seemed to be aimed at taking him out. Izuku used the Body Flicker to get out of dodge and when he looked back he saw Backdraft had summoned a wall of water to block the brunt of the flames.

Izuku was closer to Dabi now and he charged the man. Dabi hadn't seen him evade his attack and he was caught entirely unaware. Or so he thought. A scream from Hako made Dabi whirl around and he stopped Izuku's chakra rod cold.

"I remember you," Dabi said and in a flash, his other hand was right in front of Izuku's face, "Maybe this will make you stay away."

Izuku knew what was coming. Before Dabi could fire, he slammed a swift and panic-stricken uppercut to the man's face. A loud crack punched through the air as the Fatebreaker enhanced strike broke Dabi's jaw. A follow-up kick sent Dabi flying towards the windscreen of his van.

However, he was saved by the female grunt whose hair wrapped him, clearly loopy from the uppercut, up in a net-like cocoon. Hako, foolishly, charged Izuku and he weaved and bobbed through his attacks. His mobility was rather limited by the spreading flames that Dabi had created.

Hako was flagging quickly, though. The fumes getting to him very quickly. Izuku dodged one last sluggish strike before unleashing a flurry of attacks with his chakra rods. Knee, arm, knee, chest, ankle and then jaw. Hako was stumbling around on his feet barely conscious.

Izuku was about to finish him off and take him away when he heard another scream. The woman with the hair Quirk had put Dabi and her other partner inside the van and had launched an attack at him. The hair strands were numerous, but not very fast and so Izuku was able to dodge.

The woman took Hako and made for the van, but Izuku wouldn't have it. He put his rods away and launched forward in a sprint. Hako was put inside the van as the woman's back was slammed into the van's front. She let out a groan as he held her against it.

"What the hell do you guys want with this stuff?" Izuku's all but growled the question, "Why would some Pro Heroes want them?"

The woman crumbled immediately lacking any of Dabi's mettle, "I don't really know! All I know is that everyone is after them, villains and heroes—"

She trailed off as she looked behind him and at the same time, Izuku looked in the windscreen and saw a figure moving towards him. He dodged to the side and it was no moment too soon as a silver arc flashed through the air.

"Fuck!" his former captive screamed as she clutched her stomach before coughing out a question, "W-were you trying to kill me?!"

The question was directed at a blonde girl around Izuku' age. She was dressed as a school girl which was weird enough, but she held a knife in her hand too which was dripping with some blood. So, that explained the silver arc. Now for the bigger question. Where the hell had _she_ come from?

"Oh! You've got some quick reflexes, mister!" The girl giggled and it was intimidating in a way completely different from Dabi's demeanour, "I bet your blood will be so delicious!"

She charged him Izuku was able to get out one of his rods to block her attack. This only seemed to excite her as a garish grin spread across the flame. She seemed completely unfazed by the flames and the fumes in the air. Slash after slash and stab after stab rained down on him and it was only thanks to hours of practice with Kendou that they were all repelled.

By increasingly smaller margins, though, as the girl seemed to figure his tempo out as time went on.

However, after one particularly overzealous stab, Izuku struck. He slapped the knife aside with one rod before striking her across the face with the other. The girl's face was whipped to the side from the attack a loud crack punctuating the strike. When she turned back Izuku bit back a flinch. Her nose was streaming blood and she had an oblong bruise forming on her face.

"I don't want to hurt you," Izuku warned the girl rooting her to the spot, "You can't beat me. Just give up. Pros will be here soon because of what Dabi did."

Izuku had expected or rather hoped that she would give up. Another ghoulish smile spread across her face. She licked the blood streaming from her nose revealing some rather sharp canines. She let out a very inappropriate groan as she tasted the blood.

"Oh, you know bacon's name? Impressive...You're so chivalrous and heroic! Much better than the rest of those losers!" The girl tittered as she lowered her weapon, "What's your name?! I'm Himiko Toga! Your newest and biggest fan!"

"...Kage."

"Well, Kage," Toga said with a bright smile, "I really hope we meet again! I can't wait to suck you dry!"

The distant sounds of sirens drew his attention and Izuku chose not to respond to Toga's comment. He Body Flickered to the roof and he found Sumire who seemed to be fine thankfully. She also held the crate he had thrown up to the roof.

Her eyes faded from red to black as she moved towards him, "That was crazy! Are you okay? Who were those people in the car? They peeled off after that second wave of flames. I couldn't see much of anything through the flames."

"Here," Izuku said as he handed her his mask, "It has a filter. The air up here isn't bad, but I don't know how long you've been exposed. I'll pack everything into my bag."

Izuku did just that. His bag was crammed full of the medium-sized crate's contents. It was only scrolls and more scrolls as well as that odd metallic object. They just managed to fit in his bag and he gave it to Sumire who put it on.

Sumire put on her neck brace and helmet and gave him his mask back. He put it on and soon they were leaving the mall behind thanks to rather liberal use of the Body Flicker. They left the growing conflagration of blue flames and noxious smoke behind.

They arrived, without incident, at Sumire's apartment and they closed all the curtains and windows before he finally dropped his Transformation. His skin still felt a bit weird after very nearly getting cooked alive by Dabi on multiple occasions.

"That was a bit of a mess," Sumire said and he could only nod to agree, "I got a lot of footage of you and the robbers, but what about the buyers? I got nothing on them thanks to stupid Scarface and his stupid flames and smoke. Anything interesting?"

Things were way past interesting.

"I know who the buyers are," Izuku said as he forced a yawn down, "You do too. Hell, most of Japan does. The guy in the scarf was Native. I saw it when I took his scarf off."

" _Native_?" Sumire's head was tilted to the side, "The guy from Hosu? You can't be serious..."

"I wish I was joking," Izuku said as he ran his hands through his hair, "It was definitely him. Same tattoos and he looked like he saw a ghost when I said his name."

"Now, I really wish my vision hadn't whited out," Sumire muttered and she was about to say more when she saw the look on his face. She frowned.

"There's more, isn't there?" Sumire asked drawing a slow nod from Izuku, "Just tell me."

Izuku took a deep breath, "Native was working with Backdraft and Death Arms."

"...come again."

Izuku re-explained everything he saw and how certain he was of what he had seen. He even made her wear the mask to show that it reduced whiteout. Once that was done, Sumire looked about as drained as he felt.

"All this for some hunks of metal," she let her head rest in her hands, "Miraculum is such a cheesy name too. Who thought of that? Probably someone really lazy...what's even so special about those things?"

I can show you," Izuku said remembering one of his objectives for the night, "I have some of those Miraculum kunai. Well, actually I just call them chakra metal."

"Chakra metal?" Sumire said to herself before shrugging, "That's a lot better than Miraculum...How did you get them?"

"Do you have any drinks? Like coffee or alcohol?" Izuku asked making Sumire tilt her head, "It's not for me. It's for you."

"Is the story that crazy?" Sumire asked with a smile that melted away as she took in his expression.

"There should be some beer in the fridge."

* * *

"That's why I spaced out at the diner," Izuku said as he drank from a cup of tea, "I was having another vision, except that time I was awake."

"I see."

Sumire's answer was short. Curt.

"You get all that?" Izuku asked and Sumire nodded, "Okay, great. Any questions?"

"Just a few," Sumire said calmly before putting her bottle down, "Did you drink paint as a child?"

"What?! No."

"Dropped on your head?"

"No?"

"Are we in a simulation? Like that one movie?"

"Would that be more believable than what I just told you?" Izuku asked and Sumire's confusion amused and frustrated a small part of him.

Although, given the circumstances, she wasn't reacting that badly.

"So your bully—"

—childhood friend, actually," Izuku supplied helpfully.

"Oh, my bad. So your _childhood_ bully sent you down a river while on holiday. This is where you found Konoha after finding some secret tunnel inside a wolf's den. So, after that. You got out the tunnel, found Konoha and then...you ate a 'fruit' and this 'fruit' has given you access to an ancient energy that allows you do to pretty much anything and gives you visions of the lives of long-dead super warriors. Did I miss anything?"

"Uh, yes, quite a bit actually," Izuku supplied helpfully once more, "After I ate the fruit, there were these giant white symbols of light in the sky. Then the tree shrivelled into dust and I passed out and woke up in the hospital after Hawks saved me."

"The number three hero Hawks?" Sumire asked and he nodded, "Are you absolutely sure that you aren't just in a coma from eating a weird fruit? And I mean 100% sure. Because, honestly, even after seeing all of what you can do, I still don't believe you."

"What other explanation could there be?"

"I don't know. Multiple Quirks or maybe you have a really good illusory Quirk or something," Sumire said all in one breath, "This story is just crazy to hear about."

Imagine living it.

"You're mumbling again," Sumire said and his cheeks burnt up, "You're right, though. How has this affected you? All of it? I mean you were Quirkless, and now there's a very real chance you surpass everyone that came before you. Is or was it hard to adjust?"

Izuku scratched his cheek, "I don't really see it like that. It is a little overwhelming to know what I can be capable of one day and the visions are a bit of a double-edged sword, but I don't think I can complain too much."

Izuku stared at his reflection in Sumire's TV, "I'm not one to believe in the supernatural or anything like that, but it does feel like I was fated to do more than just be a Quirkless loser. All Might inspired me so much, I wanted to be the next number one."

Izuku turned to Sumire and she was watching him closely, "I want to keep helping you, Sumire. Don't look at me like that...I know I'm just a kid, but the power coursing through my veins should be used for good. I'll still go to UA, but after seeing some actual heroes working with villains, I think we need each other more than ever."

"I don't know about this," Sumire's unease was painted on her face, "How are you even going to get in and out of UA? They'll have really good security for the dorms."

"I can transform into a bird."

"Okay—wait, _really_?"

"I can transform into anything really," Izuku said to Sumire's amazement, "Going bigger doesn't make me stronger or anything and becoming an inanimate object is _awful_ , but I think I can handle becoming a bird."

Sumire stared at him silently for the longest of times before she scoffed, "Recording eyes are _so_ shit compared to that. It's a good thing you're so likeable. If you were like my ex... Okay! That's not important. Why don't you open one of these scrolls?"

Sumire reached into his bag and handed one to him, "I wouldn't recommend the blood thing, but if you have to, I have a pocket knife in my br—boot. It's in my boot."

Izuku stared at the scroll before he unfurled it. The scroll opened up to reveal oddly familiar ink markings. It only took a few moments to remember where he had seen it. Sakura sealing away Chiyo's body into a scroll. These symbols were seals.

Izuku spread the scroll on the floor and instinctively he channelled chakra into the central symbol. The paper seemed to suck in his chakra before there was a soft pop. Smoke, not unlike his Transformation filled the room, but it faded away quickly.

"I should be freaking out, but I think I'm numb to it all right now," Sumire said and for once Izuku agreed with her.

"If the other scrolls have anything just as cool, I'd overhaul whatever costume design you sent to UA."

As Izuku looked at the pristine red armour, he couldn't help but agree with Sumire's assessment.

"That might be a good idea."

* * *

"You know you really didn't have to help me with all of my stuff," Izuku said as he put a box into the trailer, "These stairs are awful."

Kendou placed a box in the trailer and just scowled at him, "Are you saying I'm weak? Because I have knocked you out plenty of times before?"

It was move-in day at UA and Izuku was giddy. After the crazy night with Sumire, he had been able to enjoy a very relaxed week with his mom and Kendou. They'd bought supplies, watched movies and even finalised their hero costumes.

Kendou had _not_ been a fan of his All Might tribute.

"You need to build your own brand. A hero costume should be uniquely you...plus, you'll look like a total teacher's pet."

Her argument was sound, but the tipping point was definitely the treasure trove he had found in those scrolls Dabi had stolen. The second version of his costume would take a while to make, though, so he had to stick with the original for now.

"T-That's not what I'm saying at all," Izuku said raising his hands to placate Kendou, "I just kinda felt bad making you walk up and down all these stairs."

"Well, don't. First of all, you helped me with my stuff," Kendou said smiling even as she chastised him, "Secondly, that's what friends are for."

She then leaned in as her smile dropped, "We _are_ gonna have a chat about how you have so many cool weapons and _never_ told me about it. I heard Auntie Inko say something about a documentary?"

"Did I hear my name?" Izuku's mother said as she and Kishu came down the stairs, "Aw, you guys look so cute in your UA uniforms! Come on let's take another picture!"

"That sounds like a great idea!" Kishu said just as enthusiastically as his mother, "Come now, squish up and big smiles."

"Do we have to?" Kendou whined but she caved under the pleading look from her mother, "Fine. You guys already have tons of photos, though..."

Honestly, Izuku didn't mind taking more photos. It made his mom happy and he'd be lying if he said he didn't like the look of the UA formal wear on him. He and Kendou huddled together and took a few more pictures before it was finally time for them to go.

Umai was inside the car, Kendou and Kishu soon joined him. Izuku hugged his mother goodbye and he was about to leave when his mother pulled out a box from her bag.

"I know you really wanted to design your own outfit so I left it to you but I just thought you'd like this!"

Izuku opened the box up and he smiled as he saw the headband that Japan News Network had sent him. The metal of the plate was clean and almost like a mirror. The metal was attached to a rich, dark green cloth that looked to be very robust.

"I think it goes with your eyes and would make your smile even brighter!" his mother said with a wide smile before tears began to form in her eyes, "Oh my baby! You're going to do so _well_!"

Izuku and his mother hugged each other for a while longer before forcing themselves apart. She waved him goodbye and Izuku was left with a bittersweet feeling that didn't quite fade as they drove towards UA.

He was left wiping his eyes for quite some time. He appreciated that no one in the car made a big deal about it or anything. In fact, it was Kendou drawing him into a conversation about his mother's gift that lifted his spirits. He handed it over to her as soon as she asked.

"That headband is really cool," Kendou said as she looked at it, "Are you going to get it inscribed?"

"I will," Izuku said as he looked down at the headband, "No idea what to get, though. I don't want it to be lame."

He knew that the headbands always had an inscription on it, but he wanted to pick something he wouldn't regret or want to change. This was a gift from his mother, after all. He had to put as much thought into it as she had.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Kendou said as she handed it back to him, "Are you nervous? I am. Why couldn't we be in the same class? It would've been so much easier! Now, we're both gonna be in class with complete strangers! You know I—"

"Itsuka, my love," Kishu said airily from the front seat, "You're rambling."

Kendou's mouth clicked shut at her mother's words.

Kishu turned to face them, "You guys really have nothing to worry about. You're both great kids! I'm sure the other kids will be queuing up to be your friends. If I can handle being a racer for as long as I did then you guys can handle something as scary as this."

Kishu's words did help to calm the storm. The funny part was that Kishu wasn't being patronising at the end. Kendou had shown her the stunts her mother had done when she had been a racer. They were _scary_ , but apparently, she had been a big recluse until she had met Umai.

So she definitely understood what they were feeling.

The rest of the conversation on the way to UA was light and breezy. Izuku and Kendou spoke about everything and nothing and before they knew it, the UA gates loomed before them.

Their student IDs were scanned and Umai was allowed to drive his car in. Today was move-in day, but also orientation. Unfortunately, the orientation was only open to the students and so Kishu and Umai wouldn't be able to stay.

There were large direction signs that guided them to the dorms and the very first that they came up to was the 1-A boarding house. It was a multilevel building with a modern design and a manicured lawn lined with beautiful plants. About one hundred metres away, Izuki saw what he could only assume was the 1-B house.

They were trolleys for him to put his stuff on and was Izuku was unpacked he turned back to Kendou and her family. Umai gave him a strong handshake, Kishu a tight hug as well as a kiss on his cheek which made his face burn up.

Kendou was the last to say goodbye, but in reality, they'd be seeing each other pretty soon.

"Make sure you get a nice room," Kendou said as she leaned out the window, "And pick a good bed too! I'm probably gonna sleep in it more than my own so I'm really gonna test it out—Ow! Dad! Why are you closing the window—"

The rest of what Kendou had to say was lost forever as the window closed on her. Izuku watched the car drive away before he began to pull the trolley towards the dorm. There was a table outside with what looked like the sleeping arrangements.

Izuku was the first of anyone to arrive from what he could tell and he was eager to unpack and meet up with Kendou. Before he could pick the paper up, though, a dry and drawling voice spoke from...somewhere...

"Stop right there."

Izuku looked down to see a man with black hair and a caterpillar body lying underneath the table. Izuku blinked. The man blinked. Immediately, Izuku rushed away from the table blubbering apologies as he went along. Who knew what this caterpillar-man would do to him?

"Please don't kill me Bugman, sir!"

"I'm not a bug," the caterpillar said as he wiggled out from under the table, "I'm a teacher."

"Please don't expel me Bugman-sensei, sir!"

The caterpillar-man somehow rose to his feet with a certain grace and poise. It was then that Izuku realised he wasn't looking at the oddest Mutant Quirk the world had ever known. No, instead it was a man in a yellow sleeping bag.

Izuku heard the distinct sound of a zip and while he should have been relieved, his heart dropped. He now wished more than anything that the man was a caterpillar and human hybrid rather than who he was.

Because right now, Izuku was staring right at his worst nightmare.

"As I said I'm not a bug," the man said his eyes bleary and yet laser-like in their intensity, "Hmm. You're Izuku Midoriya, correct?"

Izuku nodded. It was a small thing barely visible and yet acceptable.

"I thought so," the man muttered before taking out eye drops. He put a few drops in each eye before putting it away.

"My name is Shouta Aizawa," Eraserhead said before his next words dropped like a tonne of bricks on Izuku's head.

"I can't let you move in."

* * *

**Author Notes:**

**UA. _Finally_.**

**So, yeah. Things are heating up.**

**I wanted to put the week break in here, but eh I wanted to get to UA more.**

**I love hearing from you guys and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**QoTC: No homework this week, kiddos.**

**Discord server:** **discord. gg/ Ty68TdCDu6 (remove spaces)**

* * *

**Short Omake:**

"I can transform into a bird."

"Okay—wait, _really_? Isn't that confusing? I mean you're a guy."

"I can transform into anything really," Izuku said to Sumire's amazement, "Going bigger doesn't make me stronger or anything and becoming an inanimate object is _awful_ , but I think I can handle becoming a bird."

"So any bird? Hmmm, do you know Uwabami?"

"The Pro?" Izuku asked puzzled by the swerve in conversation, "What about her?"

"Can you transform into her? Oh! What about Ryukyu? Or Miruko? Me? A sexier version of me? Wait! A sexier version of you? OHHHH! A sexier, _girl_ version of you?"

Izuku zoned out at the last of Sumire's suggestions.

* * *

"Naruto!" Hiruzen shouted as he walked into his scroll room, "You cannot be in here."

"Sorry, but I have to do this if I want to become Hokage!" Naruto said before going through some handseals, "The future is now, old man! Sexy Jutsu!"

A puff of smoke enveloped Naruto before it cleared away to reveal a naked, blonde woman with curvy hips and luscious breasts that—was his nose bleeding? Why was his nose bleeding? Why was the ground getting closer? Wait, oh, fu—

* * *

"Yo! Izuku! You did it again!" Sumire snapped her fingers in front of his face, "Your nose is bleeding. How many fingers am I holding up?

"...Yes?"

Sumire frowned, "Oh, no. You're dying, aren't you?"

"I was talking about the last one of your...Transformation suggestions..."

Sumire blinked.

"Oh. _Oh."_

"Yeah."

"Really? A sexy—"

"Yeah."

"You'd think an ancient civilisation would be more prudish, you know?"

.

.

.

"So like can I see it or~"


End file.
